AtkinsRealis - Symbol T:ATRL (Was SNC Lavalin - SNC)

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Re: AtkinsRealis - Symbol T:ATRL (Was SNC Lavalin - SNC)

Post by Quebec »

AltaRed wrote:... There is a total failure of ethics policy here (nothwithstanding it seems Quebec companies do not have much conscience in that regard)
Just because a lot of ugly stuff is in the news at the moment in this province (and it's not just the construction & engineering companies but also some politicians and public "servants" that are/were corrupt), does not mean that similar issues aren't hidden elsewhere (e.g., some mafia groups are apparently more powerful in Toronto than Montreal now; link). I'd rather see the problems exposed and the system cleaned up, so we can stop paying 30% extra on public works in Mtl for example. Montreal's drinkink water supply system has to be redone almost entirely (it leaks big time), so NOT paying 30% too much in the future is a very good thing for taxpayers. The news may look terrible from the outside, but as a resident of this province I'm happy we're finally starting to address these issues. The collosion and corruption system in municipal contracts has been exposed. Three mayors have resigned, including those from the largest and third-largest cities. Business mogul Tony Accurso has been arrested and is selling his construction empire. The limit on donations to provincial political parties will be brought down to $100 per person and the total to be spent on each election by each party decreased. And the Charboneau public inquiry is just beginning, there's a lot more to come.
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Re: AtkinsRealis - Symbol T:ATRL (Was SNC Lavalin - SNC)

Post by Springbok »

AltaRed wrote:
Springbok wrote:If things get worse for SNC, I wonder if there could a possibility of a take-over by another large contractor?
That lovely PQ gov't probably would not allow it as they didn't allow Lowes to takeover Rona. Even if they did, it would likely have to be another global contractor with a similar culture (of how to make deals) to avoid a merger clash/integration problem.
Was the current Quebec government involved in blocking the Rona takeover? I somehow thought that was back when Charette was doing anything to survive. Haven't paid much attention, but isn't the take over rumored to be on again?
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Re: AtkinsRealis - Symbol T:ATRL (Was SNC Lavalin - SNC)

Post by AltaRed »

Springbok wrote:Was the current Quebec government involved in blocking the Rona takeover? I somehow thought that was back when Charette was doing anything to survive. Haven't paid much attention, but isn't the take over rumored to be on again?
It may have been the Libs, but whether the current PQ or the prior Liberals does not much matter. It is Quebec politics that screws the shareholder.

As I understand it, the Lowes 'on again' is still only a rumour but I may be mistaken.
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Re: AtkinsRealis - Symbol T:ATRL (Was SNC Lavalin - SNC)

Post by StuBee »

I decided to resurrect this thread as an "ode to the long-suffering investor":

Last year with a portion the proceeds of my ENB sale (which I sold at 37.50$/share :roll: ) I initiated a position in SNC. I paid 53$ per share. Almost immediately, it plunged to 39$ per share :cry: . At one point last year, I contemplated selling it. However, I didn't. (In retrospect, that would have been a classic case of "buy high and sell low". That is not what I am supposed to do. That is what everyone else is supposed to do :lol: ). I figured that history was on SNC's side. On the basis of SNC being old, big, and with a strong dividend history I decided that "this too shall pass" and that fundamentally, SNC remained strong. Well, in the last month, SNC has gained by over 10$/share (to within spitting distance of my purchase price). It is my hope that my faith in SNC is being vindicated :P . We shall see...

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Re: AtkinsRealis - Symbol T:ATRL (Was SNC Lavalin - SNC)

Post by Springbok »

StuBee wrote:I decided to resurrect this thread as an "ode to the long-suffering investor":

Last year with a portion the proceeds of my ENB sale (which I sold at 37.50$/share :roll: ) I initiated a position in SNC. I paid 53$ per share. Almost immediately, it plunged to 39$ per share :cry: . At one point last year, I contemplated selling it. However, I didn't. (In retrospect, that would have been a classic case of "buy high and sell low". That is not what I am supposed to do. That is what everyone else is supposed to do :lol: ). I figured that history was on SNC's side. On the basis of SNC being old, big, and with a strong dividend history I decided that "this too shall pass" and that fundamentally, SNC remained strong. Well, in the last month, SNC has gained by over 10$/share (to within spitting distance of my purchase price). It is my hope that my faith in SNC is being vindicated :P . We shall see...

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I bought SNC for my wife's RRIF. Just to go along with other conservative buys like Loblaws, Suncor, Manulife all bought near their top.

But at least SNC was bought at $40, and I see analysts now are predicting a mid-50s price within a year. We will see.
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Re: AtkinsRealis - Symbol T:ATRL (Was SNC Lavalin - SNC)

Post by flywaysuzy »

I think I bought in after the plunge, at around $39. It is nice to see continuing upward movement. I've never had it before, not sure if it is a long term hold or if it is time to sell.
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Re: AtkinsRealis - Symbol T:ATRL (Was SNC Lavalin - SNC)

Post by Taggart »

The Canadian Press October 15, 2013 11:10 pm

Engineering giant SNC-Lavalin lowers 2013 outlook

"Engineering giant SNC-Lavalin Inc. has lowered its its earnings forecast for fiscal 2013, party due to a $75 million charge related to a restructuring of its European operations.

The Montreal-based company said Tuesday night that it expects consolidated net income in fiscal 2013 to be in the range of $10 million to $50 million, as compared to the previous guided range of $220 million to $235 million."
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Re: AtkinsRealis - Symbol T:ATRL (Was SNC Lavalin - SNC)

Post by adrian2 »

Canadian Press, with my underline, wrote:"Engineering giant SNC-Lavalin Inc. has lowered its its earnings forecast for fiscal 2013, party due to a $75 million charge related to a restructuring of its European operations.

The Montreal-based company said Tuesday night that it expects consolidated net income in fiscal 2013 to be in the range of $10 million to $50 million, as compared to the previous guided range of $220 million to $235 million."
Lowered? More like slashed...
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Re: AtkinsRealis - Symbol T:ATRL (Was SNC Lavalin - SNC)

Post by Springbok »

Good News for SNC owners. Only up $2.57 (5%) at present, but were up 10% earlier. Hopefully more upside potential?

https://research.tdwaterhouse.ca/resear ... 2N0NO0W8-1
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Re: AtkinsRealis - Symbol T:ATRL (Was SNC Lavalin - SNC)

Post by Dudsy »

A bit of a history about Altalink
- Created in 2001 when TransAlta sold their power transmission assets for $850 million to a SNC consortium
- Sold yesterday to Berkshire Hathaway Energy for $3.2 billion
- Altalink 2013 EBIT of $258 million

TransAlta redeployed the sale proceeds into the Centralia coal power station purchased for $830 million
- Centralia coal is scheduled to be decommissioned in stages between 2020 and 2025
- Centralia 2013 EBIT of $10 million
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Re: AtkinsRealis - Symbol T:ATRL (Was SNC Lavalin - SNC)

Post by Peculiar_Investor »

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Re: AtkinsRealis - Symbol T:ATRL (Was SNC Lavalin - SNC)

Post by ockham »

Glad I sold in February. When in the news, it's more often than not for the wrong reasons. I hope others are making money on it.
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Re: AtkinsRealis - Symbol T:ATRL (Was SNC Lavalin - SNC)

Post by BRIAN5000 »

SNC Dividends policy FROM 2014 investor day slideshow:
Yield of approximately 2% and/or pay out ratio of approximately 20% to 30%

Looks like they have the capacity to raise.
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Re: AtkinsRealis - Symbol T:ATRL (Was SNC Lavalin - SNC)

Post by Descartes »

SNC-Lavalin to reimburse Quebec municipalities, agencies for ill-gotten gains
Top SNC-Lavalin executives testified before the Charbonneau corruption inquiry that the company illegally donated money to provincial and municipal political parties to obtain work contracts...
...Under the reimbursement program, companies repay 20 per cent of the value of their contracts plus a 10 per cent administrative charge.
Love the way Quebec companies do business.
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Re: AtkinsRealis - Symbol T:ATRL (Was SNC Lavalin - SNC)

Post by Thegipper »

Wouldn't the Fort Mac disaster add to SNC inventory of contracts and projects ? Notwithstanding their problems with bribery they are still probably the best in class engineering and consulting firms.
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Re: AtkinsRealis - Symbol T:ATRL (Was SNC Lavalin - SNC)

Post by AltaRed »

Thegipper wrote:Wouldn't the Fort Mac disaster add to SNC inventory of contracts and projects ? Notwithstanding their problems with bribery they are still probably the best in class engineering and consulting firms.
Not necessarily. Most of the infrastructure damage is easily handled by local companies like ATCO. It is their systems for the most part. There are no water or waste treatment plants to re-build, or hospitals, or aiport terminals, or city halls, etc, etc.
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Re: AtkinsRealis - Symbol T:ATRL (Was SNC Lavalin - SNC)

Post by Descartes »

SNC-Lavalin paid $22M to secret offshore company to get Algeria contracts: Panama Papers
The contracts are part of the Panama Papers leak and were signed by combinations of three different former executives from the engineering giant's SNC-Lavalin International unit...
All three men said in interviews that they had no idea who was behind Cadber Investments and only verified and signed contracts that SNC's construction division sent their way.
"The division found the commercial agents, and we trusted them. We didn't have a choice," Kamal Francis, a former senior vice-president at SNC-Lavalin International, said in an interview.
...
Questioned at a news conference following his company's annual general meeting earlier this month, SNC CEO Neil Bruce acknowledged it is not usual business practice to enter into such contracts where the counterparty signing is a figurehead director. He added that SNC has spent considerable time and energy to clean up its past contracting practices and that it doesn't do business this way anymore.
Vive le Quebec pourri.
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Re: AtkinsRealis - Symbol T:ATRL (Was SNC Lavalin - SNC)

Post by Thegipper »

Descartes wrote:SNC-Lavalin paid $22M to secret offshore company to get Algeria contracts: Panama Papers
The contracts are part of the Panama Papers leak and were signed by combinations of three different former executives from the engineering giant's SNC-Lavalin International unit...
All three men said in interviews that they had no idea who was behind Cadber Investments and only verified and signed contracts that SNC's construction division sent their way.
"The division found the commercial agents, and we trusted them. We didn't have a choice," Kamal Francis, a former senior vice-president at SNC-Lavalin International, said in an interview.
...
Questioned at a news conference following his company's annual general meeting earlier this month, SNC CEO Neil Bruce acknowledged it is not usual business practice to enter into such contracts where the counterparty signing is a figurehead director. He added that SNC has spent considerable time and energy to clean up its past contracting practices and that it doesn't do business this way anymore.
Vive le Quebec pourri.
Just wondering about the way things are done in countries like Algeria. If you want contracts you have to play by their rules?
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Re: AtkinsRealis - Symbol T:ATRL (Was SNC Lavalin - SNC)

Post by Descartes »

Thegipper wrote:Just wondering about the way things are done in countries like Algeria or the province of Quebec. If you want contracts you have to play by their rules commit punishable crimes?
Corrected that for you ;)
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Re: AtkinsRealis - Symbol T:ATRL (Was SNC Lavalin - SNC)

Post by Thegipper »

Descartes wrote:
Thegipper wrote:Just wondering about the way things are done in countries like Algeria or the province of Quebec. If you want contracts you have to play by their rules commit punishable crimes?
Corrected that for you ;)
The list of offenders for third world countries could be a very long list. Canada in the last 10 years started to enforce such laws. I think other countries look the other way.
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Re: AtkinsRealis - Symbol T:ATRL (Was SNC Lavalin - SNC)

Post by Descartes »

The hits just keep on coming..
Michel Fournier, ex-Federal Bridge Corp. executive, charged in kickback scheme
The former head of Canada's Federal Bridge Corporation (FBC) and his wife have been charged with a string of corruption offences tied to allegations of kickbacks and a $127 million contract awarded to the engineering firm SNC-Lavalin to refurbish Montreal's Jacques Cartier Bridge.

The RCMP yesterday raided the Victoria home of Michel Fournier and his wife Judith Barkley-Fournier.

It's the result of the Mounties' investigation into millions of dollars in payments to a Swiss bank account Fournier opened in 2000 under the code name "Zorro," just 20 days after awarding the contract to SNC-Lavalin.
Swiss bank account? code name "Zorro"? Even crimes in Canada are amateurish and cliched.
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Re: AtkinsRealis - Symbol T:ATRL (Was SNC Lavalin - SNC)

Post by Hammerer »

And yet up 2.89% on the day...

I don't get it either, but I did buy the stock at ~$38 because I believed that the Canadian government won't put an engineering firm with a lot of int'l and domestic projects out of business.

How sadly right I was. SNC: Your hedge for political corruption, international and domestic.
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Re: AtkinsRealis - Symbol T:ATRL (Was SNC Lavalin - SNC)

Post by Thegipper »

Hammerer wrote:And yet up 2.89% on the day...

I don't get it either, but I did buy the stock at ~$38 because I believed that the Canadian government won't put an engineering firm with a lot of int'l and domestic projects out of business.

How sadly right I was. SNC: Your hedge for political corruption, international and domestic.
This was back in 2000. The company says the people involved are long gone. I believe the company has paid for these past sins
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Re: AtkinsRealis - Symbol T:ATRL (Was SNC Lavalin - SNC)

Post by Descartes »

SNC-Lavalin settles case over illegal campaign contributions
SNC-Lavalin executives involved in an illegal political slush fund in Quebec conducted the same practice at the federal level, making a total of $117,803 of unlawful political donations to the Liberal and Conservative parties.
Well, you at least have to admire the fact that they were bipartisan, eh?
The Commissioner of Canada Elections, Yves Côté, announced Thursday that SNC-Lavalin had signed a compliance agreement with the federal agency and committed to put in place a series of steps to ensure the company does not make illegal donations in the future.

SNC-Lavalin has already admitted it made more than $1-million of illegal donations to Quebec political parties during the 2000s. Managers and their wives made personal donations and were reimbursed with salary bonuses.
..and thus, admirably, they also paid taxes on their bribes.
The Elections Commissioner found that between March, 2004, to May, 2011, senior SNC-Lavalin executives illegally donated $83,534 to the Liberal Party of Canada; $13,552 to various Liberal riding associations; $12,529 to contestants involved in the 2006 Liberal leadership race; $3,137 to the Conservative Party and $5,050 to Conservative riding associations.
Seems like our politicans are pretty cheaply bought. Poor Canada: these tiny amounts wouldn't warrant a glance in Washington.
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Re: AtkinsRealis - Symbol T:ATRL (Was SNC Lavalin - SNC)

Post by scomac »

It used to be the CIBC was the company most expected to be paid a visit by the fuckup fairy. Perhaps it's now time to bestow that honour upon SNC? :roll:
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