Topic: How To Invest

Pat: Your views on Genivar please. Many thanks.

Article Excerpt

Genivar Inc., $20.96, symbol GNV on Toronto (Shares outstanding: 51.1 million; Market cap: $1.1 billion; www.genivar.com), is one of Canada’s largest engineering-services firms by number of employees, with 15,000. It has over 300 offices in 35 countries. The company provides consulting services for all stages of a project, including planning, design, construction and maintenance. It has clients in the public and private sectors. Genivar first sold units to the public at $10 each and began trading on Toronto in May 2006. It converted from an income trust to a corporation on January 1, 2011. The company continues to grow by acquisition: it has bought over 50 related firms since 2006. That has helped it cut its reliance on Quebec. In 2006, the province accounted for 90% of the company’s revenue. That has shrunk to about 47% today. On August 1, 2012, Genivar purchased U.K.-based engineering firm WSP Group, which has 9,000 employees in 30 countries. The company paid $442 million for WSP Group…