CALGARY, Alberta, May 31, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — PrairieSky Royalty Ltd. ("PrairieSky" or the "Company") (TSX: PSK) is pleased to announce that the Toronto Stock Exchange (the "TSX") has accepted the notice of PrairieSky's intention to commence a normal course issuer bid (the "NCIB").
On April 22, 2024, PrairieSky announced its intention to seek TSX approval to renew its NCIB for an additional one-year period. The NCIB allows the Company to purchase up to 5,000,000 common shares which represents approximately 2.1% of the common shares outstanding, being 238,952,008 as of May 21, 2024, and approximately 3.3% of the public float of 152,809,315 common shares which is defined as the common shares outstanding after excluding common shares beneficially owned by directors and executive officers of PrairieSky and persons who beneficially own or exercise control or direction over more than 10% of the issued and outstanding common shares of PrairieSky. The NCIB will commence on June 4, 2024 and will expire no later than June 3, 2025.
Under the NCIB, common shares may be repurchased in open market transactions on the TSX, and/or other Canadian alternative trading systems. In accordance with the rules of the TSX governing normal course issuer bids, the total number of common shares the Company is permitted to purchase is subject to a daily purchase limit of 78,194 common shares, representing 25% of the average daily trading volume of common shares on the TSX calculated for the six-month period ended April 30, 2024, being approximately 312,776 common shares. However, the Company may make one block purchase per calendar week which exceeds the daily repurchase restriction. Any common shares that are purchased under the NCIB will be cancelled upon their purchase by PrairieSky.
PrairieSky currently intends to purchase up to a maximum of 5,000,000 common shares to effect NCIB purchases over the next 12 months through its broker BMO Nesbitt Burns Inc. PrairieSky did not purchase any common shares under its current normal course issuer bid that commenced on June 1, 2023 and ran to May 31, 2024. Since instituting the normal course issuer bid in 2016 to March 31, 2024, PrairieSky has purchased and cancelled an aggregate of 16.7 million common shares at a weighted average price per share of $14.77.
The Company believes that from time to time the market price of the Common Shares may not reflect their underlying value. The purchase of Common Shares will increase the proportion of interest of, and be advantageous to, all remaining shareholders. In addition, any purchases by the Company will afford increased liquidity to those shareholders of the Company who may wish to dispose of their Common Shares.
FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS
This press release contains certain forward-looking statements. The use of any of the words "expect", "anticipate", "may", "will", "should", "believe", "intends", and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements contained in this press release include our expectations with respect the number of common shares under NCIB purchases to be effected over the next 12 months.
With respect to forward-looking statements contained in this press release, we have made several assumptions including that the common shares will from time-to-time trade below their value, that the Company will complete purchases of common shares pursuant to the NCIB and those described in detail in our MD&A and the Annual Information Form for the period ended December 31, 2023. Readers and investors are cautioned that the assumptions used in the preparation of such forward-looking statements, although considered reasonable at the time of preparation, may prove to be imprecise and, as such, undue reliance should not be placed on forward-looking statements. Our actual results, performance, or achievements could differ materially from those expressed in, or implied by, these forward-looking statements. We can give no assurance that any of the events anticipated will transpire or occur, or if any of them do, what benefits we will derive from them.
By their nature, forward-looking statements are subject to numerous risks and uncertainties, some of which are beyond our control, including the market price of the common shares being too high to ensure that purchases benefit the Company and its shareholders, impact of general economic conditions, industry conditions, volatility of commodity prices, stock market volatility and failure to execute purchases under the NCIB. The foregoing and other risks are described in more detail in PrairieSky’s MD&A and the Annual Information Form for the period ended December 31, 2023 under the headings "Risk Management" and "Risk Factors", respectively, each of which is available at www.sedarplus.com.
Further, any forward-looking statement is made only as of the date of this press release, and PrairieSky undertakes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statement or statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date on which such statement is made or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events, except as required by applicable securities laws. New factors emerge from time to time, and it is not possible for PrairieSky to predict all of these factors or to assess in advance the impact of each such factors on PrairieSky’s business or the extent to which any factor, or combination of factors, may cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in any forward-looking statements.
The forward-looking statements contained in this press release are expressly qualified by this cautionary statement.
ABOUT PRAIRIESKY ROYALTY LTD.
PrairieSky is a royalty-focused company, generating royalty revenues as petroleum and natural gas are produced from its properties. PrairieSky has a diverse portfolio of properties that have a long history of generating funds from operations and that represent the largest and most concentrated independently-owned fee simple mineral title position in Canada. PrairieSky’s common shares trade on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the symbol PSK.
