Newswire

Catherine Graduates

Catherine Metrycki, 21, of Winnipeg, daughter of Barbara and John Metrycki, graduated from the University of British Columbia – Sauder School of Business - June 1, 2011 with a Bachelor of Commerce Degree. - Marketing. Catherine was involved as a project consultant to MANITOBA BUSINESS Magazine before graduating. We wish her the best of luck in her new position as Assistant Brand Manager with Procter & Gamble in Toronto. Pictured on UBC campus with Mace bearer Kin Lo (left) and Chancellor Sarah Morgan-Silvester (right).

Cell Less Please

Just about anywhere in public spaces — on buses, in stores or restaurants, or at the gym or in the street — we’ve all encountered a smartphone user who loudly appear to be talking to themselves. It’s their side of a conversation. While that can sometimes be entertaining, it can get annoying and stressful, especially when you’re trying to have your own conversation or finally read that best seller. What to do when your phone rings in a public setting? Try speaking as quietly as possible and keep the call short or don”t answering it at all.

Our society now believes that if a person has a mobile phone they need to answers you right away.

The best vacation you can give yourself is to be off your phone. What did we do before we started exhausting ourselves on the yack box? Was it all that important to be on the phone in the first place? Ask yourself just how much you need to text. Trying to find your partner in a mall would be easier if you pre-arranged a meeting place and a time whthout exposing your brain to any excessive information. “I’ll meet you by the polo horse at three.” This will give you a specific spot and keep you off your phone.

MTS Surges

Manitoba Telecom Services Inc. has reported a 58-per-cent increase in profit for the first quarter of fiscal 2011.
The Winnipeg-based telecommunications firm said prior to its annual meeting today in Winnipeg that net earnings for the quarter jumped to $43.4 million, or 67 cents a share, from $27.4 million, or 42 cents a share, a year earlier.

It attributed the big improvement to a number of factors, including strong performances from both its MTS and MTS Allstream divisions, and the company achieving $16.9 million in annualized cost savings during the quarter.

It said its MTS division, which operates in Manitoba, saw its wireless revenues grow by 9.7 per cent to $84 million, and its broadband and converged IP (Internet protocol) revenues increase by 7.2 per cent to $47.7 million.

And its national enterprise division, Allstream, saw its earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization climb by 14.7 per cent, or $16 million, and its converged IP revenue increase by 7.9 per cent.

“Our first-quarter results across the company were strong and demonstrate that our strategy is working,” said CEO Pierre Blouin.

“We are focused on driving growth in wireless, IP television, broadband, and IP-based services, increasing high-margin sales at Allstream through the expansion of our fibre optic network, and continuing our cost reductions. In the first three months of the year, we made excellent progress in each of these areas and are well positioned to deliver results in the 2011 outlook ranges.”

murray.mcneill@freepress.mb.ca

Maxim’s BBQ a Success

Nearly 500 people attended a special BBQ on June 1, 2011 sponsored by Maxim Truck & Trailer at the company’s head office on Route 90. Well-known community booster and contributor Maxim President Doug Harvey was on hand as usual to offer a personal welcome to the crowd.

Harvey says the fundraiser has become a longstanding annual event and attendees this year raised about $10,000. All proceeds support the CancerCare Manitoba Foundation Challenge for Life.
“The support for this event is strong and we are happy to see customers, suppliers, friends, family and everyone who shows up,” Harvey says. “We also have another charity event in December – a pancake breakfast featuring the Maxim Christmas Choir in support of The Christmas Cheer Board.

Maxim was founded in 1981 in Winnipeg, Manitoba by Doug Harvey and is the Manitoba retailer of International brand semi-trucks, of semi-trailers, including Great Dane, Timpte, Arne’s and East. Today, he and his business partner, Cliff Kolson, oversee close to 700 employees in 15 locations from Montreal to Vancouver, plus eight business divisions that serve the end-to-end truck and trailer needs of the transportation industry. Their related subsidiary businesses include Arne’s Welding, a manufacturer of trailers for the resource industry, and Summit Trailers in Edmonton and Penticton.

Manitoba Housing & Canada

Manitoba’s housing market continued on the straight and narrow in the early part of 2011, according to the latest Housing Trends and Affordability report released today by RBC Economics. Housing affordability remains attractive in the province, with little change registered in the first quarter.

“Mounting homebuyer demand continued to be met with an equal-sized increase in homes being put out for sale,” said Robert Hogue, senior economist, RBC. “This sense of balance across Manitoba kept property value appreciation under control.”

The RBC report indicates that home prices changed little in the first quarter. Prices rose modestly for detached bungalows and two-storey homes, while edging lower for condominium apartments (following a sizeable gain in the previous quarter).

The RBC housing affordability measures for Manitoba, which capture the province’s proportion of pre-tax household income needed to service the cost of owning a home, were mixed in the first quarter of 2011 (an increase in measure means that owning a home is less affordable). The measure for the benchmark detached bungalow rose by 0.1 of a percentage point to 34.1 per cent and declined by 0.2 of a percentage point for condominium apartments to 20.3 per cent. The measure remained even for two-storey homes at 36.8 per cent.

“Manitoba is still one of only two provincial markets in Canada, along with Alberta, where measures have remained below long-term averages for all housing categories that we track,” added Hogue.

The majority of Canadian markets experienced weakened affordability in the first quarter of 2011. Most notable was the sizeable deterioration in British Columbia. More specifically, Vancouver saw significant gains in property values, which drove the already elevated cost of homeownership even higher. Quebec’s homebuyers also faced noticeable rises in ownership costs, while those in Atlantic Canada saw their affordability advantage somewhat diminish. The picture remained mixed in other areas of the country, with Ontario, Alberta and Saskatchewan experiencing ups and downs in ownership costs, depending on the housing type.

“Despite the latest erosion in affordability, provincial levels generally continue to stand near their long-term averages, suggesting that owning a home remains affordable or, at worst, slightly unaffordable across Canada – with Vancouver being a notable exception,” said Hogue.

RBC’s housing affordability measure for a detached bungalow in Canada’s largest cities is as follows: Vancouver 72.1 per cent (up 3.4 percentage points from the last quarter), Toronto 47.5 per cent (up 0.8 of a percentage point), Montreal 43.1 per cent (up 2.0 percentage points), Ottawa 39.0 per cent (up 0.4 of a percentage point), Calgary 35.9 per cent (up 0.9 of a percentage point) and Edmonton 31.5 per cent (up 0.5 of a percentage point).

The RBC housing affordability measure, which has been compiled since 1985, is based on the costs of owning a detached bungalow, a reasonable property benchmark for the housing market in Canada. Alternative housing types are also presented including a standard two-storey home and a standard condominium. The higher the reading, the more costly it is to afford a home. For example, an affordability reading of 50 per cent means that homeownership costs, including mortgage payments, utilities and property taxes, take up 50 per cent of a typical household’s monthly pre-tax income.

The Closet Chic

For Lorraine Hay becoming an entrepreneur in the genre of previously owned lightly used women’s clothing was more a command performance than a whim.

Whatever the reason the Closet Chic on Portage Avenue has grown by 70 per cent since its start in 2005.

Hay was working in the big leagues of clothing in her early 40s living a hectic life as a single mother when a trip to the doctor discovered cancer cells.

After surgery and some time off she went back to work only to find that 24 months later the cancer returned.

Not liking the potential of such a stressful life Hay quit after seeing a space to rent at 938 Portage Avenue. She new she had to jump in.

Five years into the business she is free of cancer and the stores are doing well with an addition outlet at 470 River Avenue.

“The Portage store is a destination for many women for formal wear and boutique consignment clothing at very good prices. We have hundreds of pieces including retro,” she says. “I’ve never been happier or healthier.”

Winnipeg Student Wins

Montreal – An 18-year-old Winnipeg high school student Ashley Olson, from Vincent Massey Collegiate is the national grand prize winner of the 2011 Canadian Securities Administrator’s (CSA) Financial Fitness Challenge.

Olson says, “I feel it is very important for youth to focus on saving and investing because it is an ability that will assist in achieving goals both in the short-term and the long-term. The contest encouraged me to think more about saving than spending and to consider investment options as well.”

More than 9,000 Canadian youth took the challenge to become more “financially fit” by visiting the annual financial literacy contest’s website at www.financialfitnesschallenge.ca. From February 15 to April 15, 2011, the Financial Fitness Challenge was open to youth across Canada to test their knowledge of personal finance concepts including saving and investing.

“Providing Canadian youth with tools to boost their financial literacy today will make it easier for them to plan and protect their financial futures,” says Bill Rice, Chair of the CSA and Chair and CEO of the Alberta Securities Commission. “The CSA’s annual contest is a good way to reach youth and we are pleased that so many young Canadians participate in the Challenge each year.”

Thousands of visitors from across Canada explored the website’s educational resources, used interactive tools and participated in online discussions. Four new entertaining and informative videos on budgeting, credit cards, investing and investment fraud were added to the site’s list of resources and can also be viewed through YouTube.

Thirteen other provincial and territorial winners also demonstrated their financial savvy by participating in the Challenge and were awarded an Apple® iPad.