Updating Imperial Oil Ltd., Loblaw Companies Ltd. and Canadian National Railway Co.

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IMPERIAL OIL LTD. $56 (www.imperialoil.ca) has begun converting its 95-year-old refinery in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, into a storage facility for a variety of refined petroleum products, such as gasoline, diesel and home heating oil. It will take several years to compete this conversion, but the refinery was losing money, so this project should boost Imperial’s long-term earnings. Best Buy. LOBLAW COMPANIES LTD. $55 (www.loblaw.ca) is testing a smaller version of its discount No Frills supermarkets. These stores, which operate under the Box banner, are cheaper to build than full-sized outlets and can fit in smaller strip malls, which lowers their rental costs. The new Box stores could also help Loblaw compete with Wal-Mart, which may start opening smaller locations in Canada following successful trials in the U.S. Buy. CANADIAN NATIONAL RAILWAY CO. $80 (www.cn.ca) is now 13% owned by Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates. Ottawa limits any single shareholder from owning more that 15% of CN, so Mr. Gates has little room to…