Here are five things you need to know this morning:
Oil rallies on Iran attack: We’ll be watching the price of oil closely today as the barrage of missiles Iran launches into Israel on Tuesday is ratcheting up tensions across the oil producing region. Brent is changing hands near US$76 a barrel, up from about $71 on Monday. The intensifying fighting between the proxies of Iran and Israel across the Middle East is pushing up the price of crude on supply fears, but persistent questions on the demand side remain. The oil cartel known as OPEC is scheduled to meet today, an event which will be even more interesting to watch given what’s happened in recent days. Forget the cartel’s previously stated target of $100 a barrel – the Saudi oil minister said this week that $50 is on the table if countries like Iraq and Kazakhstan don’t live up to their commitments to cut production.
Sweden’s Altor tries CCM on for size: There’s a second takeover of a hockey gear maker in as many days, as Sweden’s Altor Equity Partners has agreed to buy a majority stake in CCM Hockey, according to Bloomberg. Stockholm-based Altor is buying the maker of Tacks, JetSpeed and other brands from Birch Hill Equity Partners, according to a statement reviewed by Bloomberg. Terms have not been disclosed but the company is valued at between $500 and $600 million. Among other assets, Altor owns ski brand Rossignol. Birch Hill, meanwhile, bought CCM from Adidas for around $100 million in 2017 and started looking around for a buyer earlier this year. The CCM deal comes a day after Fairfax struck a deal to buy the owner of Bauer Hockey for a similar sum.
Nike shares under pressure after another earnings miss: Nike shares will be one to watch today after the iconic athletic shoemaker posted results after the bell yesterday, numbers that continued their recent trend of missing street expectations. The company’s profit fell 28 per cent to just over US$1 billion during the quarter, on revenue that slipped 10 per cent from $12.9 billion to $11.5 billion. The company recently turfed its CEO in favour of a recently retired long-time former executive, but the numbers announced yesterday are from a time period that predates that switch.
Ballard Power selling off Scandinavia business: TSX-listed fuel cell company Ballard Power is selling most of its assets in Scandinavia, including intellectual property and customer contracts. The buyer is European company SFC Energy, for a purchase price in the “low single digit million-euro range” according to a statement. Earlier this month, Ballard announced plans to cut jobs and spending, and also shuffled its management ranks with new CFOs and COOs joining the company.
Canadian CEOs more worried about growth, KPMG survey finds: CEOs in Canada are feeling confident about their own company’s prospects but less so about Canada’s economy. That’s the main takeaway from an annual C-suite survey from KPMG, where 83 per cent of respondents said they were confident in the three-year growth outlook for the country’s economy. That’s down six percentage points from last year’s tally. Though down from last year, the survey of CEOs from 1,325 firms around the world was more optimistic about Canada’s prospects than they were about those of the rest of the world, as only 69 per cent said they were confident in that outlook.
