Category: Canada

A 25-year veteran in media and advertising, Aziz Rahimtoola, co-founder and CEO of Sabio Holdings Inc., believes he and his 130-member team have developed the secret sauce to reach the holy grail of advertisers: diverse audiences.

Whether Hispanic, Latino, Asian, or African-American, Sabio (Spanish for wise or experienced) offers clients including Rocket Mortgage, General Motors Co., and Ford Motor Co. a way to reach different audiences via targeted advertising that includes mobile apps and streaming TV content.

Based in Los Angeles, Sabio Holdings recently opened an office in downtown Royal Oak as a way to better serve an array of local clients in sectors such as automotive, retail, quick-service restaurants, and consumer products.

“We supply targeted advertising content on such channels as Roko, and from the feedback we receive, we supply our clients with very specific information on what potential buyers are motivated by and what they’re looking for in a specific product or a service,” Rahimtoola says. “There are lots of data points to understand.”

With a portfolio of companies in the streaming TV ad industry, the company provides its clients with advertising solutions, advanced audience analytics, and content monetization.
The Sabio Holdings portfolio is comprised of Sabio, a content monetization DSP (Demand Side Platform); App Science, a real-time measurement and attribution SAAS (Software as a Service) platform; and Vidillion, a cloud-based ad-insertion, content distribution, and management platform.

Having launched several startups in the media production and global trade space as well as holding leadership roles at NBC Universal and AT&T Adworks, Rahimtoola says Sabio Holdings, which is listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange, will grow by adding more data science offerings and proprietary software engineering processes.

“We hire quite a few recruits from the University of Michigan, and we see metro Detroit as a hotbed for innovation and smart technology,” Rahimtoola says. “This year we plan to introduce Sabio TV to further help brands reach diverse audiences, as well as enhance our ability to drill down to the factors that motivate buyers to make a purchase.”

For example, when buying a new car, truck, or SUV, a Hispanic buyer often prefers different colors, styling, and features than someone from Asia or the Middle East.

“If you can highlight certain attributes unique to specific customers, it’s a whole lot better than providing a one-size-fits-all advertising campaign,” Rahimtoola notes.

“In the past, global advertisers would target specific ads to, say, Hispanic magazines, newspapers, radio, and television, but it was expensive and there was literally little to no feedback. In the digital age, not only can we target specific audiences, but we also get feedback. It’s our job to take that feedback and act on it to drive more sales and brand loyalty for our clients.”

Indigo Books & Music Inc. has agreed to be taken private after agreeing to a sweetened offer from a holding company connected to its largest shareholder.

The retailer says its agreement will see Trilogy Retail Holdings Inc. and Trilogy Investments L.P. pay $2.50 per share in cash for the stake in Indigo they do not already own.

The Trilogy companies, owned by Gerald Schwartz, the spouse of Indigo chief executive Heather Reisman, offered Indigo $2.25 per share in cash in February.

Indigo did not say what caused Trilogy to boost its offer but noted the new price reflects a 69 per cent premium on the share price of $1.48 that Indigo had when Trilogy first made its bid.

Indigo says an independent committee of its board of directors recently unanimously recommended the company accept Trilogy’s latest offer.

‘Challenging years for the business’

If shareholders agree to the deal during a May vote, Indigo expects the transaction to close in June and its shares to be delisted from the Toronto Stock Exchange sometime after.

“We believe that this transaction will provide minority shareholders with a substantial premium for their shares following some challenging years for the business, while also ensuring a strong future for Indigo with full ownership by a team that has demonstrated a deep commitment to Indigo’s mission,” Indigo board chair Markus Dohle said in a statement.

WATCH | Indigo employees share concerns following data breach: 

Indigo employees worried about identity theft after data breach

1 year ago

Duration 1:49

The personal information of current and former Indigo employees was stolen in a cyberattack. There is no evidence the data has been released, despite claims it has, but experts say the risk is not gone.

The last two years have seen Indigo encounter a ransomware attack that downed its website for a lengthy period and the departure of several board members, including one who said she experienced a “loss of confidence in board leadership.”

Amid these challenges, Indigo’s founder, Reisman, returned to the company’s helm after retiring in the summer of 2023.

Indigo announced layoffs earlier this year as part of ongoing efforts to streamline its operations.

The company said at the time that the cuts were part of its strategic plan, and were meant to return the business to profitability.

Through the Trilogy firms, Schwartz is the controlling shareholder of Indigo. He owns around 56 per cent of the company’s issued and outstanding common shares, while another 4.6 per cent belong to Reisman through a different holding company.

Trilogy has said it’s not interested in selling any of its shares.

Manulife has received OSFI approval to amend our current share buyback program, which commenced on February 23, 2024, to return unlocked capital from the transaction to its shareholders.

Manulife announced that it has successfully closed¹ the previously announced transaction to reinsure a low ROE Canadian Universal Life block with RGA Life Reinsurance Company of Canada.

“Closing this deal represents another milestone in our journey to transform our portfolio to higher ROE and lower risk businesses,” said Manulife President and Chief Executive Officer Roy Gori. “This transaction, the largest Universal Life reinsurance transaction in the Canadian insurance industry, confirms our continued momentum in executing on our strategy of reshaping our portfolio at attractive terms and our commitment to unlocking shareholder value.”

As previously announced, Manulife has received OSFI approval to amend our current share buyback program, which commenced on February 23, 2024, to return unlocked capital from the transaction to its shareholders. The amended NCIB remains subject to the approval of the Toronto Stock Exchange (“TSX”).

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Manulife Financial Corporation is a leading international financial services provider, helping people make their decisions easier and lives better. With our global headquarters in Toronto, Canada, we provide financial advice and insurance, operating as Manulife across Canada, Asia, and Europe, and primarily as John Hancock in the United States. Through Manulife Investment Management, the global brand for our Global Wealth and Asset Management segment, we serve individuals, institutions, and retirement plan members worldwide. At the end of 2023, we had more than 38,000 employees, over 98,000 agents, and thousands of distribution partners, serving over 35 million customers. We trade as ‘MFC’ on the Toronto, New York, and the Philippine stock exchanges, and under ‘945’ in Hong Kong.  
 
From time to time, Manulife makes written and/or oral forward-looking statements, including in this document. In addition, our representatives may make forward-looking statements orally to analysts, investors, the media and others. All such statements are made pursuant to the “safe harbour” provisions of Canadian provincial securities laws and the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995.

The forward-looking statements in this document include, but are not limited to, statements with respect to possible share buybacks under a normal course issuer bid. Although we believe that the expectations reflected in such forward-looking statements are reasonable, such statements involve risks and uncertainties, and undue reliance should not be placed on such statements and they should not be interpreted as confirming market or analysts’ expectations in any way.

Certain material factors or assumptions are applied in making forward-looking statements and actual results may differ materially from those expressed or implied in such statements. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from expectations include but are not limited to the fact that the amount and timing of any future common share repurchases will depend on the earnings, cash requirements and financial condition of Manulife, market conditions, capital requirements (including under LICAT capital standards), common share issuance requirements, applicable law and regulations (including Canadian and U.S. securities laws and Canadian insurance company regulations), and other factors deemed relevant by Manulife, and may be subject to regulatory approval or conditions.

Additional information about material risk factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from expectations and about material factors or assumptions applied in making forward-looking statements may be found in our 2023 Management’s Discussion and Analysis under “Risk Management and Risk Factors” and “Critical Actuarial and Accounting Policies”, and in the “Risk Management” note to the Consolidated Financial Statements in our most recent annual and interim reports and elsewhere in our filings with Canadian and U.S. securities regulators.

The forward-looking statements in this presentation are, unless otherwise indicated, stated as of the date hereof and are presented for the purpose of assisting investors and others in understanding our financial position and results of operations, our future operations, as well as our objectives and strategic priorities, and may not be appropriate for other purposes. We do not undertake to update any forward-looking statements, except as required by law.

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Lightspeed Commerce is cutting about 280 jobs, less than two months after its founder returned to the helm of the Montreal-based technology company.

After integrating the company’s many acquisitions, “Lightspeed is now entering a new phase, one focused on profitable growth to capture the opportunity in front of us,” said founder and chief executive Dax Dasilva.

“This means making some hard decisions, like reducing spending in specific areas such as head count, to allow for investments in others,” Dasilva said in a statement.

“As we navigate through this transition, we acknowledge the invaluable efforts of every team member who has played a role in our journey.”

The cuts represent about 10 per cent of Lightspeed’s staff-related operating spending, the company said.

In addition, Lightspeed said it has undertaken several other cost-reduction initiatives in facilities and operations. It expects that most of the restructuring charges will be incurred in the first quarter of its 2025 financial year, which ends on June 30.

The company also announced that its board has authorized the repurchase of up to 10 per cent of its public float of shares.

Dasilva served as CEO for the bulk of the company’s history, after founding it in 2005, but became executive chairman when he turned the reins of the company over to JP Chauvet in February 2022.

Dasilva returned to the CEO role in February this year, when Chauvet left the company. Since his return, he’s been focused on profitability and on boosting Lightspeed’s share price, which he recently said hasn’t budged since he took the company public in 2019.

“One of our top shareholders said to me, ‘I want to see Lightspeed be a real business. It can’t be growth at all costs with large losses just to capture market share forever. When is this company going to have a balance of growth and profitability?'” Dasilva said at the CIX Summit in Toronto last week.

He said Lightspeed made its sales summit virtual instead of in-person as a way of cutting costs and also changed its work-from-home policies so it can reduce spending on food in its offices.

Last November, Lightspeed reached positive adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization for the first time. As he made his return, Dasilva said the company’s priority is profitability, and as part of that he plans to put less of a focus on large mergers and acquisitions.

National Bank of Canada analyst Richard Tse said in a note that the moves announced Wednesday by Lightspeed are positive.

“With investor appetites having shifted to more balanced [profitable] growth, we think this move should alleviate concerns that the company was reverting to aggressive investment and potentially resuming its former acquisition path,” he wrote.

However, Tse added that it’s too soon to tell whether the company’s focus on larger accounts will prove successful “beyond the current payment push,” and maintained the price target for the company at $20 US.

Lightspeed shares were up more than five per cent in late-morning trading on the Toronto Stock Exchange, at $19.86 Cdn.