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Insurance giant wants to build Canadian operations with Standard's Quebec assets CBC News Posted: Sep 03, 2014 5:13 PM ET Last Updated: Sep 03, 2014 6:45 PM ET Manulife Financial Corp. says its life insurance division is buying the Canadian-based assets of Standard Life Plc for $4 billion in cash. The deal combines Manulife, one of the largest life insurance companies in the world with 84,000 employees, and Standard Life Canada, this country's fifth-largest insurer with 2,000 employees. "Several months ago, Standard Life decided to explore the sale of its Canadian operations through a competitive process," Manulife CEO Donald A. Guloien said. "We are delighted to be named the successful bidder." Standard Life provides long term savings, investment and insurance products to about 1.4 million Canadians, with $52 billion of assets under management. Manulife said it was particularly keen to acquire Standard Life’s Quebec assets. "One of the key reasons we were interested in this company is its people in Quebec. We want to increase our presence in the province and use the very talented employee base to grow and expand our business in Quebec, throughout Canada and indeed the world,” Guloien said in a statement announcing the deal late Wednesday. Caisse contributes to deal Manulife plans to pay for the deal with a combination of a public offering, a private placement, internal resources and possible future debt, it said. Later in the day, the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec, the Quebec provincial pension fund investment arm, announced a $500‑million equity investment in Manulife Financial to contribute to the financing of the acquisition. Manulife and Standard Life have previously collaborated in distributing investment products around the world, through a relationship between Standard Life Investments and John Hancock. Manulife said it would take 18 to 24 months to consolidate the new operations and it did not foresee any job losses in the near future. The company expects the deal to add three cents to its earnings per share every year over each of the next three years and to build earnings capacity beyond the 2016 core earnings target of $4 billion. The deal closes in the first quarter of next year, pending regulatory approval. http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/manulife-buys-standard-life-s-canadian-assets-for-4b-1.2754776
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http://www.nydailynews.com/montreal-westmount-saint-henri-nabes-article-1.1393151
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Michaels in Quebec may spark arts and crafts battle with homegrown DeSerres
un sujet a posté IluvMTL dans L'actualité
MONTREAL - A battle is brewing for Quebec arts and crafts shoppers as North American giant Michaels prepares to enter the province Friday with the opening of seven stores. The move by the Texas-based retailer will put it in closer competition with homegrown DeSerres, which is opening its 18 location in the province and 28th across Canada. After three years of planning, Michaels will open stores in suburban locations in Gatineau, LaSalle, Lachenaie, St-Jean-sur-Richelieu, St-Jerome, Vaudreuil-Dorion, and Laval. The move comes 17 years after it expanded into English Canada. "We wanted to make sure we were 100 per cent compliant to the rules and regulations of the Quebec government and we wanted to make sure that we were going to provide an unbelievable shopping experience to our customer," Tom Making, president of Michaels Canada, said in an interview from St-Jean-sur-Richelieu. He said Michaels translated 2.5 million words to ensure that its packaging and signage was trilingual in English, French and Spanish to service customers in Quebec and the United States. Michaels has invested $20 million in the Quebec stores, hired 500 workers and developed a new store prototype that includes better lighting, wall graphics and wider aisles. It has also signed up four Quebec vendors to supply books, stamping and scrapbooking materials. The Quebec stores will offer the same merchandising as its 92 other stores in Canada, but it will target the Quebec consumer with a larger yarn department, beading area and expanded framing section. "The Quebec public is a very creative customer in crafts, in fine arts and we offer that unique shopping experience in all of our stores." Making said the arrival of Michaels will "enhance" the market along side the 104-year-old DeSerres chain. "We offer a different product line. Our objective is to bring a whole new crafting experience to the Quebec consumer and I think we will enhance one another." DeSerres president Marc DeSerres said Michaels will only have a short-term impact on a few of its nearby stores. "You always have to be concerned when someone with large means comes in your territory but I feel we are prepared," he said in an interview from Paris where he was shopping for new products. "We have a different offer, we're based here, we're Canadian-owned, we know the market and we adjust our stores based on the market." As a smaller company, DeSerres said it can bring in new products and follow trends much quicker than Michaels. While Michaels is strong in crafts, DeSerres said his stores excel at fine arts. They sell canvases made in Montreal, notebooks manufactured in Toronto and artist paints made in Canada. "(Michaels is) putting themselves close to Walmart so the selection is probably close to Walmart's and they will probably compete more with Walmart and the dollar store than us." Michaels operates more than 1,070 big box stores averaging 1,800 square metres and plans to add more stores in Quebec in the next five years. About nine per cent of its more than US$4.2 billion of sales in fiscal 2011 came from Canada. The stores carry more than 35,000 products. Nearly half its sales are in general products and children's crafts, according to its 2011 annual report. The rest is divided among home decor and seasonal, framed and scrapbooking goods. Opened in 1983, it was purchased in 2006 by private equity firms Bain Capital, founded by U.S. presidential candidate Mitt Romney, and The Blackstone Group. Michaels employs about 45,300 workers, including 34,600 who are part-time and nearly 5,000 in Canada. Note to readers: This is a corrected story. An earlier version said Michaels had 89 other stores in Canada Read more: http://www.montrealgazette.com/business/all/Arts+crafts+retailer+entering+Quebec+market+with+seven/7229361/story.html#ixzz26J95n6OG -
Am I the only one that would pay more for electronics to improve these poor people's working conditions? BTW, This is proof that it is NOT an apple issue. (Like some of you believe) http://kotaku.com/5874706/report-mass-suicide-threats-at-xbox-360-plant Report: Mass Suicide Threats at Xbox 360 Plant On Jan. 2, over 300 employees at a Foxconn plan in Wuhan, China threatened to throw themselves off a building in a mass suicide. Foxconn makes Microsoft, Nintendo, Sony products. These workers manufacture Xbox 360s. According to Chinese anti-government website China Jasmine Revolution (via Watch China Times), the workers were protesting denied compensation they were promised. On Jan. 2, the workers asked for a raise. Foxconn told them they could either keep their jobs with no pay increase or quit and get compensation. Most decided to quit with compensation. However, the agreement was supposedly terminated, and the workers never received their payments. Website Record China reported that the uproar the incident actually caused Xbox 360 production to be temporarily suspended. The mayor of Wuhan intervened to talk down the group down, and on Jan. 3 at 9pm, the group of 300 decided not to jump, ending what could have been a deadly game of chicken. Suicides at Foxconn made major news in 2010 when over a dozen employees committed suicide, leading to Foxconn installing suicide prevention nets at some of its facilities. In 2010, Kotaku asked Microsoft about Foxconn and the reported abuses. Microsoft's Phil Spencer said at the time, "Foxconn has been an important partner of ours and remains an important partner. I trust them as a responsible company to continue to evolve their process and work relationships. That is something we remain committed to—the safe and ethical treatment of people who build our products. That's a core value of our company." Kotaku is following up with Microsoft over this latest incident.
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Video CBC News Quebec lithium mine in Val D'Or, can potentially be the largest in North America. Partner Mitsui & Co
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(Courtesy of CTV News Ottawa) February 4th, 2010
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Ottawa weighs 'net benefit' of allowing Amazon to set up shop
un sujet a posté jesseps dans L'actualité
(Courtesy of The Globe and Mail) -
Microsoft to Open Stores, Hires Retail Hand By NICK WINGFIELD Microsoft Corp. said it hired a former Wal-Mart Stores Inc. executive to help the company open its own retail stores, a strategy shift that borrows from the playbook of rival Apple Inc. The Redmond, Wash., company said it hired David Porter, most recently the head of world-wide product distribution at DreamWorks Animation SKG, as corporate vice president of retail stores for Microsoft. In a statement, Microsoft said the first priority of Mr. Porter, who is also a 25-year veteran of Wal-Mart, will be to define where to place the Microsoft stores and when to open them. A Microsoft spokesman said the company's current plans are for a "small number" of stores. [microsoft store and retail concept] Microsoft In a warehouse near its Redmond, Wash., campus, Microsoft created mockups for how Microsoft products might be displayed either in its own stores or in a retailer's. [microsoft store or retail concept] Microsoft It remains to be seen whether the effort can add some pizzazz to Microsoft's unfashionable image, which Apple has sought to reinforce with ads that mock its competitor. Mr. Porter, in a statement, said there are "tremendous opportunities" for Microsoft to create a "world-class shopping experience" for the company's customers. "The purpose of opening these stores is to create deeper engagement with consumers and continue to learn firsthand about what they want and how they buy," Microsoft said in a statement. The move is a sign of the deeper role consumer-technology companies are playing in the retail business, despite the many risks of straying from their traditional businesses of making hardware and software. Apple, of Cupertino, Calif., encountered widespread skepticism when it first began opening its own retail stores in 2001. Eight years later, though, Apple's chain of more than 200 stores around the world are widely credited with helping the company boost sales of its Mac, iPod and iPhone product lines. The Apple stores, with their eye-catching architecture, highly-trained sales staff and "genius bars" that provide technical support, gave Apple a way to showcase its products in an environment where they weren't lumped in with a gamut of other electronics items. Sony Corp. and Bose Corp. also operate their own stores. At the same time, some large electronics retailers have fallen on hard times amidst the weakening economy. CompUSA Inc. last year closed most of its retail stores, while Circuit City Stores Inc. is in the process of shutting down all of its stores and laying off more than 30,000 employees. Microsoft has long flirted with the idea of doing its own store, even as it has tested ways that retail partners can better sell Microsoft products. In a 20,000-square-foot warehouse near its campus in the suburbs of Seattle, Microsoft has tested various retail concepts, complete with shelves displaying Xbox games and big computer monitors with touch-sensitive screens. Key details about Microsoft's retail plans still need to be worked out, though. Microsoft said the stores could feature a range of products from personal computers running its Windows operating system to cellphones running the company's Windows Mobile operating system to its Xbox videogame console. One of Mr. Porter's tasks will be to figure out whether to actually sell computers rather than merely show off their features. Any decision that favored some PC makers and left others off store shelves could anger some hardware partners. Stephen Baker, an analyst at NPD Group Inc., which tracks retailers, said Apple doesn't face the dilemmas Microsoft will in the retail business because Apple makes the hardware and software for its products. "That's going to be a big challenge for Microsoft," Mr. Baker said. A spokeswoman for Hewlett-Packard Co., one of Microsoft's biggest hardware partners in the PC business, declined to comment on Microsoft's retail strategy. Spokesmen for Dell Inc. didn't respond to requests for comment. Microsoft's store plans could also irk existing retail partners like Best Buy Co., on whom Microsoft is especially dependent for sales to consumers. Best Buy representatives didn't return calls requesting comment. Microsoft said it will share the lessons it learns from its own stores with other retailers. The failures of other stores opened by technology companies will loom over Microsoft as it launches its stores. In 2004, computer maker Gateway Inc. shuttered a network of more than 188 company-owned retail stores after weak sales. Microsoft itself operated a Microsoft store inside a movie-theater complex in San Francisco beginning in 1999, but two years later shut down the store -- which showcased, but didn't sell, Microsoft products.
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La scierie cessera ses activités le 19 décembre prochain. Une soixantaine de travailleurs sont touchés par cet arrêt des opérations. Pour en lire plus... -
Onex a annoncé lundi s'être porté acquéreur d'une participation de 50 pour cent dans le fabricant américain RSI Home Products pour la somme de 318 millions $ US. Pour en lire plus...
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Laurentian thrives in trying times PETER HADEKEL, Freelance Published: 7 hours ago In the midst of the worst banking crisis in decades, small, regional-based Laurentian Bank is beating the pants off its much larger rivals. Earnings are up more than 30 per cent so far this year, and Laurentian stock has risen 37 per cent since January. That compares with a 14-per- cent decline for Bank of Montreal shares, a one-per-cent drop at Royal Bank and a 21-per-cent fall at CIBC. The TMX financials index is down nine per cent over the same period. Laurentian has plenty of cash and its capital ratio is among the best in the industry, Réjean Robitaille says. So much for the talk that a small financial institution could not survive in an age of behemoths. Laurentian, the country's seventh-largest bank, had only a tiny exposure to the asset-backed commercial paper market that collapsed in Canada and no exposure to the U.S. mortgage market. It's one of the few feel-good stories in the current financial mayhem. In contrast, big mortgage lenders and an investment bank in the U.S. have gone down, and huge writeoffs have been taken at most of the big banks in Canada. "It's bad," Laurentian CEO Réjean Robitaille said yesterday when I asked him about the troubles hitting the financial system. This week, the U.S. nationalized mortgage lenders Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, while investment bank Lehman Brothers teetered on the brink. But investors shouldn't lump all financial institutions together, he says. In this case, small really is beautiful. "Look around the world, there's a lot of institutions that may not have the same size as others but that are doing quite well. Why is that? Because they have a good focus, and strong execution. "Look at what happened in the United States to the big players. ''Nobody four or five years ago would have said that Bear Stearns or Lehman Brothers" would get into trouble, Robitaille said. Clearly, being a giant is no advantage right now. Laurentian may not have the same scale as some of its rivals, but it can react more quickly. Give it credit for making some smart moves. Its total exposure to the troubled non-bank, asset-backed commercial paper market, frozen last year under the so-called Montreal Accord, is just $20 million. Of that amount, about $4.3 million has been written off. It wasn't dumb luck. The Laurentian credit committee wasn't comfortable with the ABCP market or with other exotic securities that other banks piled into, Robitaille said. "We've got a lower risk profile. ... We weren't in subprime lending or structured investment vehicles or derivatives," he said, rhyming off some of the complex products that have backfired on bigger banks. As a result, the balance sheet is strong and conservatively funded to a large extent by personal deposits. Laurentian has plenty of cash - about $4.5 billion - and its capital ratio is among the best in the industry, Robitaille says. In this case, lack of ambition has served it well. Five years ago, it sold 57 branches in Ontario to TD Bank, deciding that it couldn't afford to spread itself too thin. "We can't be everything to everyone," Robitaille says. The bank has identified three areas where it's focusing its energy and investment. These include the retail and small business market in Quebec, commercial real estate lending across Canada and financial products marketed to independent financial advisers. The bank also maintains a foothold in the investment business through Laurentian Bank Securities. Ironically, given the troubles banks have had in housing in the U.S., Laurentian is doing well by securitizing mortgages in Canada. It packages federally insured Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. home loans for resale to investors, earning a profitable spread when it does so. "It's a very good product," Robitaille says, and this has turned out to be "the cheapest way to fund the bank." Third-quarter earnings per share were a record for Laurentian. "In a challenging year for banks, this is exceptional," said Desjardins Securities analyst Michael Goldberg in a research note. phadekel@videotron.ca
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Sandoz to open new Quebec plant The Gazette; Reuters Published: 7 hours ago Drug maker Sandoz Canada, part of the European-based multinational Novartis, is unveiling its new manufacturing plant in Boucherville next Tuesday. The project is the second stage of a multimillion-dollar investment by Sandoz. Quebec Economic Development Minister Raymond Bachand will lead the ceremony. The Boucherville plant specializes in generic sterile products. Sandoz employs almost 680 in Canada.
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Desjardins financial grows outside Quebec The Gazette Published: 1 hour ago Desjardins Financial Security, the life and health insurance arm of the $152-billion Desjardins Group, said yesterday that business growth outside Quebec was strong in the second quarter. Premium income was up 6.1 per cent from a year earlier in Quebec, where it already has a large market presence, and rose 16.8 per cent in the rest of Canada. Desjardins Financial has been working hard to build market share outside Quebec, especially for group business. Desjardins Financial also sells group and individual retirement savings products, including mutual funds, and growth in this business came mainly from its new guaranteed investment contracts. "We continue to gain ground in an extremely competitive insurance market," chief operating officer Richard Fortier said. Second-quarter net income was $59.3 million vs. $68.4 million a year earlier.
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The Ugly Canadian at global trade talks in Geneva Jeffrey Simpson Editorial - The Globe and Mail mardi 29 juillet 2008 When is failure a success ? For the Harper government, as for previous Canadian governments, failure in international trade negotiations means political success. Failure prevents the government from having to face the ire and political retribution of Canada’s supply management groups, which govern the production, sale and pricing of eggs, poultry and dairy. These are the lobby groups Canadian politicians bow down before. In 2005, the House of Commons unanimously passed a resolution instructing negotiators to defend the existing supply management arrangements. Any change, according to the Commons, would be unacceptable. This from a group who couldn’t agree today is Tuesday. Canada’s negotiators at the last-gasp meetings in Geneva this week are taking a position to defend supply management that will in effect lead to failure at the talks. After all, how do you negotiate in good faith when your negotiating instructions are that no changes must be made, ever, under any circumstances to the status quo ? Whenever International Trade Minister Michael Fortier and Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz appear in public in Geneva, they are questioned, badgered and otherwise verbally accosted by the legions of supply management representatives who have descended on the city. Back home, these organizations issue threatening press releases at the hint of change to their cozy arrangements. On Saturday, when it looked as if progress was being made at the talks, Quebec’s farmers’ union denounced an "agreement concocted in secret" and demanded that Canada repudiate it. What are the supply management arrangements ? In part, they allow tiny levels of imports, after which tariffs are imposed at 299 per cent for butter, 246 per cent for cheese and at astronomical levels for other dairy products, turkeys, chickens, eggs. Every other advanced industrial country, including the United States and European Union members, are proposing cuts to subsidies and other barriers. Only Canada is against any change in its domestic arrangements. Predictably, Canada is completely isolated at Geneva. Canada stands hypocritically before the world. Canada’s negotiators demand that other countries lower their subsides and protection for agricultural products that we export (grains, pork, cattle and the like), while insisting that whole sections of Canada’s agricultural market remain effectively closed to imports. This hypocrisy has been widely noted abroad, but it apparently causes no ripples in Canada, where people either do not know about it or believe that Canada, being a moral superpower in its own mind, can afford the occasional lapse from unsullied virtue. An early text of a possible agreement would have lowered tariffs gradually by 23 per cent, thereby still leaving them for many products in the range of 150 to 225 per cent - still astronomically higher than for any other products. This possibility sent the supply-managed groups into paroxysms of anger. Dairy, poultry and egg producers jointly said such proposals would "destroy our farms by allowing Canada to be flooded with imported food." Such grotesque hyperbole is the stock and trade of these groups, but it frightens politicians of all stripes. Stephen Harper’s government is supposed to be a free-trading group, proposing new deals with Colombia, Peru, the Caribbean and the EU, and waxing indignant at any threats to NAFTA. But when it comes to supply management, it nervously eyes seats it must win in rural Quebec and Ontario and acquiesces to the demands of farmers. Quebec is the greatest beneficiary of supply management, since 47 per cent of the quota for industrial milk used to make butter, cheese, yogurt and other dairy products belongs to Quebec farmers. Half of Quebec’s production is therefore "exported" to the rest of Canada, which under supply management cannot import the same product from cheaper suppliers. It’s an across-the-board, across-the-country racket. Political will being completely absent in Canada, the only hope for trimming supply management lies in success at the WTO. If international trade talks succeed, Canada could never walk away from the entire agreement. If Canada tried, it would be outside the entire framework of international trading rules, a disaster for a trade-dependent economy. So what Canadian ministers must do, as they are doing now, is put forth a position on supply management designed to prevent success while publicly insisting on striving for it. It is the Ugly Canadian position.
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Le fabricant de pièces automobiles Progressive Moulded Products ferme ses 11 usines de la région de Toronto et met à pied 2000 employés. Pour en lire plus...
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Canada's Most Awaited International Food Exhibition Opens Today
un sujet a posté mtlurb dans L'actualité
Canada's Most Awaited International Food Exhibition Opens Today Note to Editors: Please publish the dates and location of this exhibition in your listing of upcoming events. MONTREAL, April 23 /CNW Telbec/ - The 5th edition of the SIAL Montréal International Food Exhibition opens today at the Palais des congrès de Montréal convention center. Throughout April 23, 24 and 25, the show will welcome 14,000 agri-food professionals from all over the globe. Some 550 companies from Canada, the U.S. and 30 other countries will be converging on the 200,000+ sq. ft. (18,600 sq. m.) exhibition floor. SIAL Montréal is a multi-flavored exhibition showcasing local and international products. You can visit Canadian exhibitors at these booths: << - Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada - Ministère de l'Agriculture, des Pêcheries et de l'Alimentation du Québec - Aliments du Québec - Agri-Food Export Group Quebec-Canada More than 30 countries and 9 international pavilions will be there: - Austria - Poland - United States of America - Spain - France - Sri Lanka - Italy - Syria - Pakistan >> A Delicious Show! SIAL Montréal will be presenting several activities over the three days, tailor-made to the North- Americain industry's needs. For the second time, SIAL Montréal organizes Agora Nutrition. A space designed to meet with other professionals and share experiences in the guise of conferences that will allow visitors to become aware and better understand the increasingly close connection between the nutrition and health sectors. SIAL Montréal is also the proud organizer of the biggest olive oil competition - "OLIVE D'OR". More than 105 olive oil producers from all over the world are participating in this second edition, one of the industry's foremost international competitions. Innovation is front and center at this 5th SIAL Montréal, with the "Trends & Innovations" event, which will recognize the manufacturers with the most groundbreaking products. This area will also showcase the North-American & International trends presented by our exhibitors. Food Services Circuit : SIAL Montréal & SET Canada designed a special circuit to help Food Services professionals recognize exhibitors that offer specific products especially designed to their needs. Welcome to SIAL Montréal 2008. Bon appétit! About SIAL Montréal SIAL Montréal was created in 2001, in association with the A.D.A.Q - Quebec food retailers association - and the Québec-Canada Agri-Food Export Group. The exhibition enjoys the support of Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada and the Quebec Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food. Now in its fifth edition, SIAL Montréal has become the authority in North America for this international event. The SIAL network also includes Paris, Shanghai and Buenos Aires. To learn more about the exhibition, visit us online at: www.sialmontreal.com. -
DRAXIS To Construct Second Facility In Montreal Area November 27, 2007: 10:14 AM EST DOW JONES NEWSWIRES DRAXIS Health Inc. (DRAX) has initiated construction of a 77,000-square-foot secondary packaging and warehousing facility in the Montreal area to help it meet its obligations under its contract to produce a broad portfolio of multiple non-sterile specialty semi-solid products for Johnson & Johnson (JNJ). DRAXIS said it expects the new facility to be completed by mid-2008. The new facility is being built by Montreal developer Broccolini Construction Inc. specifically to meet the needs of DRAXIS with respect to this major contract. It will be owned by Broccolini Group of Cos. and leased to DRAXIS under a seven-year agreement with options to renew. Initially, DRAXIS plans to have about 50 employees at this second Montreal- area facility, part of the 80 to 100 employees that it will hire for this contract. The contract to produce semi-solid specialty products calls for commercial production to start in 2009 and initially run for five years to the end of 2013. DRAXIS, Mississauga, Ont., is a pharmaceutical company. -Carolyn King; 416-306-2100; AskNewswires@dowjones.com
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Draxis to create up to 100 jobs after chosen by J&J for contract manufacturing
un sujet a posté mtlurb dans L'actualité
Draxis to create up to 100 jobs after chosen by J&J for contract manufacturing 6 days ago MONTREAL (CP) — Pharma company Draxis Health Inc. (TSX:DAX) is building a new Montreal plant and hiring up to 100 people after the company's contract manufacturing division expanded its existing relationship with Johnson & Johnson, one of the world's biggest consumer products companies. The contract expansion will lead to between 80 to 100 new positions at Draxis Pharma operations in the Montreal area and require the building of a new secondary plant, in addition to the current Draxis manufacturing plant in suburban Kirkland, the company said Wednesday. On the Toronto Stock Exchange, Draxis stock jumped 34 cents to trade at $5.39, a gain of 6.7 per cent as investors reacted positively to the news. Draxis said the new deal with Johnson & Johnson Consumer Companies Inc. could mean another US$120 million in revenues over five years to the Canadian company. In addition, the transfer of equipment and production technologies, now in progress, is expected to generate additional revenues this year and next of between US$6 million and US$8 million. The supply deal, which runs to the end of 2013 and can be extended, involves the manufacturing of non-sterile specialty semi-solid products currently sold in the United States. Commercial production is expected to begin in 2009. "The signing of this contract is a reflection of the solid business model at Draxis," said Martin Barkin, president and CEO of the Toronto-area company. "We are honoured to have been selected from more than 80 international contract manufacturers under a rigorous and comprehensive global selection process conducted over an extended multi-year period. "This contract includes prescription and non-prescription products and will significantly improve capacity utilization in the semi-solids section of our non-sterile operations." As a result of the manufacturing deal, Draxis plans to build a new secondary plant to handle labeling, product assembly for different markets, cartoning and shipping. The new operation is slated to open next summer and will complement the company's production plant in Kirkland, in west-end Montreal. The jobs expansion is good news for the local Montreal economy, which has also seen other drug developers expand operations in recent months. In June, global drug giant GlaxoSmithKline (NYSE:GSK) announced it has spent $50 million to upgrade its laboratory north of Montreal into the North American research and administrative headquarters for its vaccine division. GlaxoSmithKline, based in Britain, is a world leader in the vaccine business. The company has 3,300 employees in Canada, including 1,400 in Quebec. Draxis, based in Mississauga, Ont. makes sterile products such as injectable liquids, ointments and creams, non-sterile products as well as radiopharmaceuticals for diagnostic imaging and treatment. The company employs about 500 people at its Montreal plant. Last year, Draxis generated a profit of US$11.5 million on revenues of just under US$90 million. -
Schering-Plough Canada to build head office in Montreal Mar 06, 2007 06:10 PM Canadian Press MONTREAL – Drug developer Schering-Plough Canada is proceeding with plans to build a $9 million three-storey office complex that will serve as the U.S. company's new Canadian head office in Montreal's west-end. Construction is about to begin on the first phase of a 60,000-square-foot building that will be built along the Trans-Canada highway, across from rival Merck Frosst's large research complex. The Schering-Plough building could be expanded in a second phase in a couple of years, officials told The Canadian Press on Tuesday. Company president and general manager Carlos Dourado will officially unveil the project at a news conference Wednesday. The structure will occupy a portion of vacant land under a long-term lease with the property's owner, Broccolini Construction, said Guy Filiatrault, director of urban planning and business services for the town of Kirkland, Que. Town officials are finalizing a building permit for the new building, which is expected to be completed this fall, he said in an interview. Quebec Economic Minister Raymond Bachand, Native Affairs Minister Geoffrey Kelley and Kirkland Mayor John Meaney are expected to participate. Schering-Plough Canada, which employs more than 850 people across the country, is part of a New Jersey-based global company that develops prescription drugs as well as consumer and animal health products. It wasn't immediately clear how many workers will be transferred from other Schering-Plough Canada operations, including its existing headquarters in nearby Pointe Claire. Schering-Plough Canada operates a manufacturing plant in Pointe Claire, where more than 400 employees help produce 300 million tablets annually for domestic and international markets. In 2000, Schering-Plough Canada invested $25 million to modernize its manufacturing plant and expand the nearby warehouse. The project. built by Broccolini Construction, also included construction of an 86,000 square-foot, distribution centre in Kirkland. It serves the Canadian retail market and exports products to sister companies of Schering-Plough in the US, Europe and Asia. It processes 120,000 product orders annually, said the company's website. In January, Montreal-based pharma company Warnex Inc. (TSX: WNX) said it will develop new pharmacogenetic assays – used to predict a patient's response to drugs – and operate a central laboratory for several of Schering-Plough Canada's clinical studies. The Canadian company's parent, Schering-Plough Corp. (NYSE: SGP), recently reported its fourth-quarter profits surged 75 per cent as strong sales of cholesterol, arthritis and allergy medicines offset rising research and marketing spending. The company's sales include revenue from a joint venture with Merck & Co. on cholesterol drugs.
