Pressure a plus for Tims

Article Excerpt

TIM HORTONS $57.34 (Toronto symbol THI; TSINetwork Rating: Average) (905-845-6511; www.timhortons.com; Shares outstanding: 153.4 million; Market cap: $8.9 billion; Dividend yield: 1.8%) has renovated and redesigned its stores over the last couple of years to make them more appealing to customers and boost traffic. However, the company is now under pressure to do more from Highfields Capital, a U.S.-based activist investment firm that owns 1.5% of Tim Hortons’ shares. Highfields has proposed several ways to unlock shareholder value, including slowing Tim Hortons’ expansion in the intensely competitive U.S. market; borrowing money to buy back roughly 40% of its stock; selling or spinning off its distribution operations; and transferring its real estate holdings to a new real estate investment trust. Tim Hortons seems unlikely to adopt Highfields’ suggestions, even after its new CEO, Marc Caira, joins the company on July 2 from Nestle SA. However, similar involvement by activist investors has helped boost value at other Canadian firms, such as Agrium…