Latest news with #ChrisMurray
CTV News
4 days ago
- Business
- CTV News
Transat shares leap after restructure of hefty pandemic debt
Air Transat self service check-in kiosks are seen at Montreal-Trudeau International Airport in Montreal, on Friday, July 31, 2020. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Paul Chiasson Transat AT Inc. shares jumped 14 per cent in mid-afternoon trading Thursday after the travel company announced major restructuring of pandemic-era debt. The Montreal-based company, which owns Air Transat, says it has cut its outstanding debt with a federal Crown corporation by more than half to $334 million as part of the agreement. Transat says it will pay off $41.4 million in cash, consolidate part of its credit into a single $175-million facility and issue a $158.8-million debenture to a Canada Development Investment Corp. subsidiary. Transat will also issue the federal entity $16.3 million in shares for a 19.9 per cent stake in the company under a debt-for-equity swap. ATB Capital Markets analyst Chris Murray says the debt restructure comes on 'highly favourable terms' for Transat, given the red ink on its balance sheet. Transat was one of several airline outfits to take advantage of federal aid packages during the COVID-19 pandemic, which saw border closures and health restrictions wreak havoc on carrier earnings. The deal remains subject to definitive agreements being carried out and documents putting the transaction into effect. This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 5, 2025. Companies in this story: (TSX:TRZ) The Canadian Press
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Transat shares leap after restructure of hefty pandemic debt
MONTREAL — Transat AT Inc. shares jumped 14 per cent in mid-afternoon trading Thursday after the travel company announced major restructuring of pandemic-era debt. The Montreal-based company, which owns Air Transat, says it has cut its outstanding debt with a federal Crown corporation by more than half to $334 million as part of the agreement. Transat says it will pay off $41.4 million in cash, consolidate part of its credit into a single $175-million facility and issue a $158.8-million debenture to a Canada Development Investment Corp. subsidiary. Transat will also issue the federal entity $16.3 million in shares for a 19.9 per cent stake in the company under a debt-for-equity swap. ATB Capital Markets analyst Chris Murray says the debt restructure comes on "highly favourable terms" for Transat, given the red ink on its balance sheet. Transat was one of several airline outfits to take advantage of federal aid packages during the COVID-19 pandemic, which saw border closures and health restrictions wreak havoc on carrier earnings. The deal remains subject to definitive agreements being carried out and documents putting the transaction into effect. This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 5, 2025. Companies in this story: (TSX:TRZ) The Canadian Press Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Winnipeg Free Press
4 days ago
- Business
- Winnipeg Free Press
Transat shares leap after restructure of hefty pandemic debt
MONTREAL – Transat AT Inc. shares jumped 14 per cent in mid-afternoon trading Thursday after the travel company announced major restructuring of pandemic-era debt. The Montreal-based company, which owns Air Transat, says it has cut its outstanding debt with a federal Crown corporation by more than half to $334 million as part of the agreement. Transat says it will pay off $41.4 million in cash, consolidate part of its credit into a single $175-million facility and issue a $158.8-million debenture to a Canada Development Investment Corp. subsidiary. Transat will also issue the federal entity $16.3 million in shares for a 19.9 per cent stake in the company under a debt-for-equity swap. ATB Capital Markets analyst Chris Murray says the debt restructure comes on 'highly favourable terms' for Transat, given the red ink on its balance sheet. Transat was one of several airline outfits to take advantage of federal aid packages during the COVID-19 pandemic, which saw border closures and health restrictions wreak havoc on carrier earnings. The deal remains subject to definitive agreements being carried out and documents putting the transaction into effect. Monday Mornings The latest local business news and a lookahead to the coming week. This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 5, 2025. Companies in this story: (TSX:TRZ)
Daily Mail
6 days ago
- General
- Daily Mail
When Yvette Cooper speaks it all feels so formulaic, it conveys nothing: QUENTIN LETTS
Biggest vote turner at present? Small boats. That explains the rise of Nigel Farage 's Reform. Yesterday Yvette Cooper arrived at the home affairs select committee for what was expected to be a showdown. She was set to be interrogated about 'the work of the Home Office '. MPs were bound to go big on the small boats crisis. Weren't they? Not this lot. It was an hour and a half before the matter was raised and it received just ten minutes. Questions during that low-energy period were reserved for Starmerites. Owing to the result of the General Election, select committees are heavily dominated by Labour. The MP given most of the questions was Chris Murray (Lab, Edinburgh East & Musselburgh). In addition to being as damp as a frogman's jockstrap he happens to be the son of Margaret Curran, a sometime Labour MP who is now minister for Net Zero in the House of Lords. You will not be amazed to learn that wee Murray displayed all the feral aggression of a Portobello tea-shop waitress. He marvelled at Ms Cooper's command of the crisis. She could not have been handling it better, Mr Murray plainly felt. 'And will ye be taking another pink dainty cake, madam?' he did not quite ask the Home Secretary. Yvette Cooper arrives in Downing Street to attend the weekly Cabinet meeting in London on June 3 Mr Murray's cosy family connections were trumped by those of another Labour MP. Jake Richards (Rother Valley) disclosed that his sister is Ms Cooper's chief of staff. Their father is Steve Richards, a Blairite columnist and BBC type. Nor does it stop there. Jake's sister is married to another Labour MP, the implausibly tanned Gregor Poynton (Livingston), who himself was previously married to an ex-Labour MP, Gemma Doyle. The People's Party outdoes the Borgias for nepotism. It makes the Pakenhams look grindingly meritocratic. All this helped Ms Cooper. She could jabber away without significant interruption, wobbling her head and affecting artful concern about the Liverpool parade crash, youth terrorism and other matters. Sitting some three yards to her left, at shoulder level, one was offered an unusual angle of the Home Secretary. Watching her side-on, I could see a stillness in her pupils and sense the cogs of her brain engaging before screeds of policy exposition were squirted past two primly drawn lips. She is an efficient, prating machine. The brow corrugates. The hands chop and push imaginary obstacles on the desk in front of her. The larynx aims for a low, almost masculine note. There are many emphatic nods. It all feels so formulaic that it conveys... nothing. No novelty or spontaneity. No flashes of humanity. Just a programmed product. Although in some ways impressive, it has a bleakness to it. Watching her side-on, I could see a stillness in her pupils and sense the cogs of her brain engaging before screeds of policy exposition were squirted past two primly drawn lips She wore no wristwatch. Two of her tiny fingertips were smudged by ink. Beside her sat her new permanent secretary, Dame Antonia Romeo. In previous positions, Dame Antonia has been a flashy customer, all Jackie O glasses and shaken tresses, bringing a whiff of ocean air and Roger et Gallet scent to any room. Now that she is working for Ms Cooper, Dame Antonia has gone conventual. She has abjured glamour. Said not a single word. She just gazed at her ministerial mistress with ostensible interest. Can the unquenchable Romeo really have been tamed? Shaun Davies (Lab, Telford), a blowy sort, apologetically asked if we might have more success in discouraging small-boat arrivals if we diluted European human-rights conventions. Ms Cooper shrugged that one off without effort. We did not want to upset the French and Germans. The committee's chairman, Dame Karen Bradley (Con, Staffordshire Moorlands) caught a few midges in her sagging jaw. Robbie Moore (Con, Keighley & Ilkley) scored a few runs by pestering Ms Cooper about grooming gangs. Paul Kohler (Lib Dem, Wimbledon) blew his nose in a vast red hanky and admired his long fingers. Peculiar. And in the Commons chamber there was discussion about drinking water being tainted by sewage, and one of the questions came from an MP called Mr Swallow.
ABC News
24-05-2025
- ABC News
New transport era on Lord Howe Island as Qantas touches down for final time
On remote Lord Howe Island, historical eras have been largely defined not by leaders or monarchs but modes of transport, which provide a critical connection to mainland Australia. The island's transport eras have spanned from 1834 when the first island settlers used whaling boats, to the romanticised post-World War II flying boat era, through to the past three decades when Qantas has served the island community. "The history of an extremely isolated place like Lord Howe Island, 586 kilometres from the closest point on the Australian coast, is always defined by transport and communication," Lord Howe Island resident and historian Chris Murray said. "How one gets on and off that isolated place." Recently the final Qantas-branded and crewed plane touched down on Lord Howe Island's tiny airstrip. It marks an emotional end of an era for island residents and a crowd gathered under rainy skies to wave goodbye to the final flight. "There were lots of tears," Lord Howe resident Bronwyn Tofaeono said. Qantas has held the route licence since 1991, but is phasing out its Dash-8 Q200 series, the only aircraft in its fleet able to operate on Lord Howe Island's very short runway. Regional carrier, north Queensland-based Skytrans is now transitioning in to take over the route and rebranding the planes. Ms Tofaeono said, over the decades, their community connection to the airline and the route's regular pilots and crew had developed into something that went far beyond just transport. "The Qantas Dash 8 has become more than just a plane to us," she said. "It brought our newborn babies home, carried our children to and from boarding school, and connected us with the world beyond our shores. "After my father passed away, I will never forget the moment we brought him home — the Qantas crew stood quietly on the tarmac as his coffin was unloaded. "It was an act of profound respect that I will carry with me forever." Mr Murray managed ground operations at Lord Howe for Qantas for nearly three decades, from 1991 to 2020. He said planes sometimes needed to stay overnight on the island due to bad weather or breakdowns, and friendships had developed between the pilots and crew and island families. "Quite a number [of pilots and crew] come out on holidays to see us as they've developed attachments to the place," Mr Murray said. Island resident Cindy Shick worked with Mr Murray as a Qantas agent for almost 30 years. "For many of us, you go over to the mainland, and you come back with your baby," Ms Shick said. "There's a generation of kids who've never flown on anything but QantasLink as they came back in their mum's arms." Ms Shick's husband, fifth-generation islander Jack Shick, said the ending of the Qantas era was a significant milestone. Lord Howe Island's flying boat era spanned from 1947 to 1974 and Qantas operated the large craft until 1951. Ansett later took over and Mr Murray's father was the Ansett manager on Lord Howe Island from 1958 to 1974. "The flying boats were just exceptional," Mr Murray said. "We are all flying boat 'tragics' on Lord Howe. "We love the era [and] seeing the grace of a very large aircraft skimming across the lagoon. "The aircraft could only alight here at high tide … quite a swell can come in over our reef, so the runway, if I can term it that, was rather uneven at times." Mr Shick said many island residents had fond memories of the flying boat days. "They [flying boats] were very comfortable, the seats were like small lounge chairs and when a meal was served it came on a proper plate, [with a] knife and fork, nothing like air travel nowadays," he said. "The highlight of the trip was landing on the crystal-clear waters of the lagoon. QantasLink chief operating officer Nick Collie said, moving forward, the airline would have a codeshare partnership with Skytrans and would continue a connection with Lord Howe Island. "As a nod to our longstanding history … we will be naming one of our newest A321 XLR aircraft, Seven Peaks Walk, after the iconic Lord Howe Island track," Mr Collie said. Skytrans has been awarded the licence to operate the regulated route to Lord Howe Island until March 2030, and its transition mode with Qantas ends in February 2026, after which it will exclusively operate all flights. Skytrans CEO Alan Milne said: "Skytrans is honoured to be able to continue this essential air service and looks forward to working closely with the Lord Howe Island community to ensure a safe, reliable and customer-focused operation continues."
