Business

Inditex founder Amancio Ortega buys Toronto’s Royal Bank Plaza for $916 million

Published

3 years ago

January 13, 2022

Spanish billionaire and Zara founder Amancio Ortega has agreed to buy Royal Bank Plaza, which houses the headquarters of Royal Bank of Canada, the country’s biggest bank, in Toronto for around 800 million euros ($916.88 million), according to his private office.

Pontegadea, the family office of the main shareholder of fashion group Inditex, confirmed the deal to buy the landmark Canadian skyscraper, famed for a series of windows with a 24-karat-gold coating, on Thursday. It was first reported by Bloomberg News in Canada.

Current owners Oxford Properties Group and Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB) hired RBC Capital Markets to explore a potential sale last September. It was expected to fetch more than C$1 billion ($799.17 million).

Despite the pandemic and an expectation that the work-from-home trend is here for the long haul, demand for office space in downtown Toronto remains strong, with a 9.7% vacancy rate in the office market in the fourth quarter of 2021, below the national average of 15.7%, according to CBRE data.

Royal Bank Plaza, home to leading banks, law firms and technology companies, is located in the heart of Toronto’s financial core, across the street from Union Station, Canada’s busiest transit hub, and covers some 1.5 million square feet (139,350 square metres) across its two towers.

Oxford Properties did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Pontegadea has focused on investing in real-estate assets and textile distribution but recently became the largest private investor in Spain’s electricity grid operator Red Electrica, with a 5% stake, and also bought a 49% stake in a wind farm operated by Spanish energy group Repsol.

($1 = 0.8725 euro)

($1 = 1.2513 Canadian dollars)

(Reporting by Corina Pons; Editing by Nathan Allen, Kirsten Donovan and Jonathan Oatis)

Business

Restaurant Brands reports US$357M Q3 net income, down from US$364M a year ago

Published

8 hours ago

November 5, 2024

Anne Joseph

TORONTO – Restaurant Brands International Inc. reported net income of US$357 million for its third quarter, down from US$364 million in the same quarter last year.

The company, which keeps its books in U.S. dollars, says its profit amounted to 79 cents US per diluted share for the quarter ended Sept. 30 compared with 79 cents US per diluted share a year earlier.

Revenue for the parent company of Tim Hortons, Burger King, Popeyes and Firehouse Subs, totalled US$2.29 billion, up from US$1.84 billion in the same quarter last year.

Consolidated comparable sales were up 0.3 per cent.

On an adjusted basis, Restaurant Brands says it earned 93 cents US per diluted share in its latest quarter, up from an adjusted profit of 90 cents US per diluted share a year earlier.

The average analyst estimate had been for a profit of 95 cents US per share, according to LSEG Data & Analytics.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 5, 2024.

Companies in this story: (TSX:QSR)

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Business

Electric and gas utility Fortis reports $420M Q3 profit, up from $394M a year ago

Published

8 hours ago

November 5, 2024

Anne Joseph

ST. JOHN’S, N.L. – Fortis Inc. reported a third-quarter profit of $420 million, up from $394 million in the same quarter last year.

The electric and gas utility says the profit amounted to 85 cents per share for the quarter ended Sept. 30, up from 81 cents per share a year earlier.

Fortis says the increase was driven by rate base growth across its utilities, and strong earnings in Arizona largely reflecting new customer rates at Tucson Electric Power.

Revenue in the quarter totalled $2.77 billion, up from $2.72 billion in the same quarter last year.

On an adjusted basis, Fortis says it earned 85 cents per share in its latest quarter, up from an adjusted profit of 84 cents per share in the third quarter of 2023.

The average analyst estimate had been for a profit of 82 cents per share, according to LSEG Data & Analytics.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 5, 2024.

Companies in this story: (TSX:FTS)

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Business

Thomson Reuters reports Q3 profit down from year ago as revenue rises

Published

8 hours ago

November 5, 2024

Anne Joseph

TORONTO – Thomson Reuters reported its third-quarter profit fell compared with a year ago as its revenue rose eight per cent.

The company, which keeps its books in U.S. dollars, says it earned US$301 million or 67 cents US per diluted share for the quarter ended Sept. 30. The result compared with a profit of US$367 million or 80 cents US per diluted share in the same quarter a year earlier.

Revenue for the quarter totalled US$1.72 billion, up from US$1.59 billion a year earlier.

In its outlook, Thomson Reuters says it now expects organic revenue growth of 7.0 per cent for its full year, up from earlier expectations for growth of 6.5 per cent.

On an adjusted basis, Thomson Reuters says it earned 80 cents US per share in its latest quarter, down from an adjusted profit of 82 cents US per share in the same quarter last year.

The average analyst estimate had been for a profit of 76 cents US per share, according to LSEG Data & Analytics.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 5, 2024.

Companies in this story: (TSX:TRI)

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