Vitamin maker Jamieson Wellness makes TSX debut
Jamieson Wellness is banking on an aging population and rising disposable incomes to help accelerate a five-year expansion plan, the head of the company says as its stock soared on its debut Friday on the Toronto Stock Exchange.
For nearly a century, the Toronto-based maker of vitamins, minerals and other supplements has capitalized on consumer appetite to live healthy — and it is counting on that to grow.
“There is a global health and wellness mega-trend that is going on that affects everyone, no matter which country you’re in,” president and CEO Mark Hornick said in an interview before the company went public.
“People want to live longer and they want a higher quality of life. They want to prevent health concerns before they become problematic.”
Jamieson (TSX:JWEL) sold $300 million worth of its shares though its initial public offering and a secondary offering priced at $15.75 per share.
About an hour after markets opened, it shares were trading at $17.70, up 12.4 per cent. The company plans to use the money raised from its share of the offering to repay debt and its preferred shareholders.
According to market research firm Euromonitor, the Canadian vitamin and multivitamin industry was worth $431.7 million last year.
Jamieson says it controls about 25 per cent of the vitamin market in Canada. It also sells other products including natural sleep aids, herbal extracts and natural beauty and skin care products.
The Canadian labour market beat expectations yet again last month by adding 45,300 positions, Statistics Canada said Friday.
The vast majority of the new jobs in June were in part-time work, although the number of full-time positions also rose.
The fresh data nudged the national unemployment rate down to 6.5 per cent from 6.6 per cent the previous month.
A consensus of economists had expected an increase of 10,000 jobs in June and for the unemployment rate to stay at 6.6 per cent, according to Thomson Reuters.
The June increase adds to a series of positive job-market gains in the last year and comes amid widespread speculation that the Bank of Canada will hike its benchmark interest rate of 0.5 per cent next week. Central bank governor Stephen Poloz has made increasingly positive statements about the state of the economy in recent weeks.