Here’s our Pick of the Month – May 2014

Article Excerpt

AIMIA INC. $17.56 (Toronto symbol AIM; TSINetwork Rating: Extra Risk) (514-205-7315; www.aimia.com; Shares outstanding: 173.0 million; Market cap: $3.0 billion; Dividend yield: 3.9%) owns and operates Aeroplan, Canada’s largest loyalty program, with over 4.6 million members who collect Aeroplan miles from participating companies. Members can exchange miles for flights, car rentals, hotel rooms and merchandise. Aimia also owns Nectar, the U.K.’s biggest loyalty program. In addition, it has interests in Air Miles Middle East and Nectar Italia, as well as Club Premier, the leading loyalty program in Mexico. In the three months ended December 31, 2013, Aimia’s revenue rose 1.4%, to $687.6 million from $678.2 million a year earlier. Excluding one-time items, earnings per share fell 5.8%, to $0.49 from $0.52. The earnings decline was due to an increase in the company’s cost per mile, mostly because its expenses rose as it expanded its operations. On January 1, 2014, TD Bank replaced CIBC as the main credit card issuer for Aeroplan. Under a..