As British Columbians attempted to navigate the COVID-19 health crisis last year, investors’ appetites for West Coast companies remained healthy throughout 2020, according to a new report from the B.C. Securities Commission.
The provincial regulator’s B.C. Capital Market Report 2020, released Monday, reveals market capitalization of B.C.-based companies hit a record $286 billion — up 47% from 2019’s $194 billion.
The surge in market capitalization comes amid wide open credit markets and persistently low interest rates as central banks attempted to keep the gears of the global economy lubricated during the ongoing COVID-19 crisis.
The report found West Coast companies traded on the TSX increased their market capitalization by 40% last year compared with a 3% increase a year earlier.
Meanwhile, local companies traded on the TSXV increased market capitalization by 125% following a 1% decrease in 2019, and companies traded on the CSE saw 52% growth in market capitalization following a 9% decrease in 2019.
“Not only did B.C. public companies finish the year with a record market capitalization, they also reported record capital-raising, including filing a record number of prospectuses with the BCSC," John Hinze, the BCSC’s director of corporate finance, said in a statement.
Capital raised totalled $135.45 billion — up 37% from the $105.01 billion raised a year earlier.
The banking and finance ($15.87 billion), and mining sectors ($8.6 billion) proved to be the most active when it came to capital- raising last year.
“The global pandemic curtailed activity through March and April [2020] and caused miners to reduce 2020 planned expenditures for both capital projects and exploration. However, rising commodity prices supported a quick rebound. By June, mining sector activity was returning to pre-pandemic levels and capital formation had eclipsed that over the same period in 2019,” the report stated.
According to the BCSC’s report, the largest B.C.-based companies by market capitalization as of last year are as follows:
· Lululemon Athletica Inc. (Nasdaq:LULU): $58.14 billion
· Telus Corp. (TSX:T): $32.54 billion
· Wheaton Precious Metal Corp. (TSX:WPM): $23.67 billion
· First Quantum Minerals Ltd. (TSX:FM): $15.75 billion
· Abcellera Biologics Inc. (Nasdaq:ABCL): $15.6 billion
This BCSC based its findings on publicly available data and its own internal records.
The regulator notes that the report does not necessarily reflect all capital raising in B.C. since companies and investment funds are only required to report certain securities offerings.
