Parent and spinoff continue to prosper

Article Excerpt

FIRSTSERVICE CORP. $84.97 (Toronto symbol FSV; TSINetwork Rating: Extra Risk) (416-960-9500; www. firstservice.com; Shares outstanding: 34.6 million; Market cap: $3.1 billion; Dividend yield: 0.7%) set up its commercial real estate business, Colliers International Group, as a separate company on June 1, 2015, and handed out shares to its investors. Since the spinoff, FirstService has carried on with residential property management and its property improvement services for commercial and residential real estate. In the second quarter, ended September 30, 2017, revenue rose 11.6%, to $456.5 million from $409.1 million a year earlier (all figures except share price in U.S. dollars). Excluding one-time items, earnings per share for the quarter climbed 19.4%, to $0.74 from $0.62 a year earlier. The big gain was the result of cost savings as well as the higher revenue. Colliers spinoff adds appeal The company’s outlook remains strong. The spinoff of Colliers adds to its appeal. That’s because most academic studies suggest spinoffs and their parent companies do better than comparable…