Shopify announces new founder share, Molson Canada workers’ strike to end and Nutrien to ramp up fertiliser production

Shopify’s (TSX: SHOP) chief executive officer has welcomed the creation of a new “founder” share, after shareholders approved the notion on Tuesday, granting Tobi Lutke 40% of the company’s voting power.

The Canada-based e-commerce company’s shareholders voted in favour of two key proposals at the company’s annual general meeting on 7 June.

Shareholders approved the creation of the new share structure, as well as a 10-for-1 share split, which the company said would make its class A and class B shares more affordable and offer it the chance to “broaden and diversify its ownership base.”

The 40% “founder” share is set to only be in place until Mr Lutke leaves the company.

“The progress we have made advancing our vision for the future of commerce would not have been possible without our founder and CEO,” the company said.

Cenovus Energy

Cenovus Energy’s (TSX: CVE) boss has indicated the future of energy needs to be focused on “diversification”, not “transition”.

Cenovus chief executive officer Alex Pourbaix spoke to participants at the Global Energy Show in Canada this week, citing an ongoing conflict between the push to improve environmental, social and governance (ESG) performance and the rising demand for increased oil output.

The invasion by Russia of Ukraine certainly caused a stir in global energy markets, which saw oil and gas prices surge insurmountably.

Mr Pourbaix said the energy crisis is an eye opener highlighting that oil and gas can’t be easily or quickly replaced by wind and solar or other renewables.

“What happened over the last several years was, I think, there was a lot of ambition that we could really move this (energy) transition along very fast,” he said.

He said the priority over the span of the near future is to find the right balance between oil and gas with hydrogen, renewables and nuclear power.

“We’re now seeing that whatever is done on ESG has to be coordinated with energy security in order to avoid the challenges, or worse, that we’re seeing right now as a result of scarcity of oil and gas,” he said.

Barrick Gold

Barrick Gold (TSX: ABX) has announced it has sold its 8.5% stake in Perpetua Resources (TSX: PPTA) this week.

Commenting on the sale, the gold mining company said it sold the shares for “investment portfolio management purposes”.

The total shares sold were 5,382,587, through Nasdaq, Cboe, Direct Edge and NYSE-ARCA.

Barrick Gold walked away with about $21.7 million from the transaction.

The company hasn’t ruled out acquiring securities of the company in the future, “depending on market conditions and other factors, including Perpetua Resources’ business and financial condition”.

Molson Canada

An agreement has finally been reached between Molson Canada (TSX: TPX.B) and the Teamsters union, which has received a warm reception from over 420 workers who have been on strike since March.

The deal was finalised on Thursday, with the finer details not being disclosed until they are presented to members.

The lengthy strike by the workers, which has been addressed through the deal involved issues dealing with wages amid rampant inflation, as well as pension and work scheduling conflicts.

Local union president Eric Picotte said the main issues of the dispute have been addressed.

Workers are set to finally return to work next week, after a vote on the agreement-in-principle will take place on Friday.

Nutrien

Nutrien (TSX: NTR), the world’s largest fertiliser company, will ramp up its production after a long period spanning months of supply disruptions and surging prices.

The company has announced it will increase its potash production capacity to 18 million tonnes by 2025, citing a 40% increase from 2020.

Nutrien’s interim president and chief executive officer Ken Seitz said there is a pending challenge with feeding a growing world as global supply constraints have contributed to rising prices and escalated concerns for global food security.

“There is no simple or fast solution to overcome this challenge and we see potential for multi-year strength in agriculture and crop input market fundamentals,” he said.

As Russia is the second largest potash producer in the world, behind Canada, and in the midst of the war with Ukraine, the window of opportunity for the Canadian producers grows more significantly with concerns over Russia’s supply.

“Financial sanctions and other restrictions on Russia and Belarus will create more lasting changes to global trade patterns as customers prioritise reliability of supply,” he said.

The Nutrien boss believes the company is well-positioned to fill the supply void potentially left by Russia.