On February 9th, 2011 at the Epcor Centre for the Performing Arts in Calgary, 250 guests joined Alberta Venture in celebrating the achievements of Alberta’s 2011 Fast Growth 50. Presented in partnership with KPMG, the annual Fast Growth 50 program recognizes those Alberta-based companies that have seen the most significant increase in revenue, assets and earnings over a three-year period. Now in its 13th year, the businesses that made the 2011 Fast Growth 50 list are Alberta’s growth champions and are setting the pace for the fastest growing economy in Canada. (more…)
Archive for February, 2011
More than 450 business leaders and professionals crowded a ballroom at Edmonton’s Westin Hotel on Jan. 20 to honour Don Lowry, president of Epcor Utilities Inc. and Alberta’s Business Person of the Year. Lowry’s accomplishments are nothing to sneeze at — he took a small, municipal water utility, grew it into a profitable regional entity and then got into the power generation business, acquiring TransCanada Power LP in 2005, and then split the company in two, creating Capital Power in 2009. (more…)
It was a mixed year for Alberta’s publicly listed companies. While the TSX/S&P benchmark index produced healthy returns, many of the province’s blue chip names – Suncor, Imperial Oil, Canadian Oil Sands Trust, Encana – either gave up ground or failed to match the index.
by Max Fawcett, Managing Editor
It’s a widely held belief, both here in Canada and throughout the anglosphere, that conservatives are better managers of the economy than liberals, and conservative political parties have traded well and widely on that belief. Indeed, in an Angus Reid poll taken in May of last year when the possibility of a double-dip recession still loomed large, Canadians expressed a clear preference for Stephen Harper’s leadership when it came to the economy. While only 21 per cent of respondents indicated that they trusted Michael Ignatieff to handle the economy, 39 per cent said that they believed in Harper’s leadership. This could – and probably should – be read less as a vote of confidence than as one of negative affirmation. After all, a majority of respondents still said that they didn’t trust Harper to handle the economy. They simply mistrusted him less than they did Michael Ignatieff.
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More than 450 business leaders and professionals crowded a ballroom at Edmonton’s Westin Hotel on Jan. 20 to honour Don Lowry, president of Epcor Utilities Inc. and Alberta’s Business Person of the Year. Lowry’s accomplishments are nothing to sneeze at — he took a small, municipal water utility, grew it into a profitable regional entity and then got into the power generation business, acquiring TransCanada Power LP in 2005, and then split the company in two, creating Capital Power in 2009. (more…)
by Max Fawcett, Managing Editor
If the first six weeks are any indication, 2011 is going to be a busy year in the world of corporate mergers and acquisitions. Already, we’ve seen Target buy out Zellers, ArcelorMittal and Nunavut Iron Ore square off (and ultimately come together) over the Baffinland Iron Mines Corporation and PetroChina invest $5.4 billion in order to form a joint venture with Encana on its Cutbank Ridge assets in the northeast corner of British Columbia. Could the Katz Group be next?
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by Max Fawcett, Managing Editor
Awards events tend to be remembered more for embarrassing gaffes and alcohol-fueled social infractions than great speeches, but that probably won’t be the case for those who attended Wednesday’s Fast Growth 50 function at Calgary’s Epcor Centre. Instead, they’ll remember the speech that Christians Izquierdo, the CEO of Edmonton-based technology company DevFacto, gave in accepting the award as the top company in our 2010 Fast Growth 50 rankings. They should, at least, because it marked him not just as a rising star in the business community but in Alberta society as a whole. He’s the kind of person that reflects the values that makes Alberta such a good place to do business: entrepreneurialism, ambition and an irrepressible work ethic.
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By Andrew Williams
In this month’s edition, we welcome Alberta Venture writer Cailynn Klingbeil to the podcast and welcome back managing editor Max Fawcett. We’ll be discussing the perils and pitfalls of real estate investments south of the border and expand on some of the concerns introduced by our February feature entitled “Buyer Beware.” While baby boomers and young investors are flocking states such as Arizona and Florida, many are investing in a market they don’t fully understand. From complex tax regulations and currency concerns, to vacant neighborhoods and depreciating assets; investors have their work cut out for them.
Join us as we explore this complex subject. (more…)
by Max Fawcett, Managing Editor
Aristotle famously said that nature abhors a vacuum. So too, it seems, does Edmonton’s business community. How else to explain the underwhelming turnout at today’s “Coffee with the Cabinet” event?
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by Max Fawcett, Managing Editor
As far as bad corporate omens go the unexpected resignation of a leading executive is near the top of the list, and last Friday Toronto’s Aecon Group provided more evidence to that effect. Less than two weeks after Scott Balfour stepped down as the company’s President, a position he’d held since 2005, it issued a warning that fourth quarter results for 2010 would be dragged down by an operating loss of between $56 and $59 million (before taxes) that it would have to take on the work it did on Suncor’s Firebag 3 project. The stock, not surprisingly, tumbled more than 10 per cent on the day. (more…)
