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Gold/Mining/Energy : BCE Emergis - global e-commerce -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: sPD who wrote (235)	1/4/1999 8:33:00 PM
From: rocki	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1341

And I thought I was the only one with those dreams! At times I find hard to control my optimistic outlook for Mpact with all the coming events without sounding like a promoter. One thing you didn't dream of is the e-bill opportunities, the other avenue of growth to their main revenue-EDI. Mid-Jan we should find out if they win the e-bill with Canadian financial consortium. Mpact should do good, they already have association (good base, several years) with Royal Bank-CANACT. Natco is a done deal, will be called NEXX. Nasdac listing must be coming soon, but more interesting, what will they do with the money? US acquisition? If so what will they go for an EDI company like Harbinger or an e-bill company or a new avenue?? I think it depends on how they do in mid-jan. Not sure about CGI US acquisition, dont follow this one too closely, but they did have a big favouable article in the Mtl Gazette a couple weeks ago. Top 10 Que picks, I will post it next , I had to retype the last 2 columns, i hope error free.

To: sPD who wrote (235)	1/4/1999 11:48:00 PM
From: rocki	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1341

Top 30 Que picks- Dec98- Mtl Bus MAG Richard one column (Performance for Aug to Oct)of the chart was deleted to get it to fit, otherwise all sorts weird things happen. Note IFM #11 Tracking the "Top 30" BY CHRISTINE DECARIE In the July 1998 edition of the Montreal Business Magazine, thirty companies were featured as being the brokers' choice for the leading publicly traded growth companies in Quebec. Here we present our ongoing analysis of the performance of the portfolio. Over the past two months, the Canadian equity market, like most markets around the world, posted a surprising recovery. Aside from the Federal Reserve cutting rates three times over a short period, it is rather difficult to pinpoint a specific reason for the markets' strong gains. A look at the performance of the Top 30 in this two-month time frame shows fairly positive results. As before, the portfolio assumes that each of the 30 companies has an equal weighting at the beginning of the period (August 31, 1998). The Top 30 port-folio generated a return of 11.20/0 in the two -mouth period ended October31, 1998 and thc median company in the portfolio gained 7.4%, compared to the TSL 300 index, which rose by 12.6%. Although the portfo-lio performance was slightly below that of the broad Canadian index, it fared much better than the two Quebec indices. The Nesbitt Burns Quebec Small Cap index returned 7.1 % and the Levesque Beaubien Quebec Small Cap index recorded a 3.10 % return. The best performing companies included Cognicase Inc., up 76.9%, Kaufel Group Ltd., up 72.8% and UAP Auto Parts Inc., up 54.7%. On a year-to-date basis, the Top 30 port-folio has gained 10%, which is well above the performance of all the previously Mentioned indices. The median company in the portfolio gained 8.50/0, which compares favorably with the TSL 300 index, which was down 6.1%. Meanwhile, the Nesbitt Burns Quebec Small Cap indexes has risen 6.4% and the Levesque Beaubien Quebec Small cap index has declined by 1.4%. The top performing companies since the beginning of the year include MPACT Immedia Corporation, up 196.9%, Kaufel Group Ltd., up 117.8% and UAP Auto Parts Inc, up 69.8%. As mentioned in our previous commentary, equity market corrections generally provide good buying opportu-nities for long-term investors. The equity market has in fact rebounded from the trough recorded in October. Furthermore, there has been a considerable amount of activity on the merger and acquisition front. In certain sectors, we have seen several transactions and the universe of the Top 30 portfolio has not been immune to these developments. In fact, over the past two months, two companies have been the subject of an active bid while a third has indicated a willingness to put itself up for sale. In particular, Kaufel Group Ltd. was purchased by Thomas and Betts Corp., a U.S. manufacturer of electronic connectors and components. A premium in the area of 60%was paid over the previous trading price. As well, UAP Auto Parts Inc. is currently in the process of being acquired by Genuine Parts Company and the expected premium over the previous trading price is 58%. Finally, Consoltex Group Inc. announced early in November that it was looking for alternatives to maximize shareholder value and would even consider selling the company. It is worthwhile noting that 10% of the portfolio is on the verge of being acquired by foreign interests. The continued volatility on equity markets, the low value of the Canadian dollar, market globalization, and the attractive strategic positioning of several Quebec companies is putting them at risk of being taken over. Christine Decarie is a Vice-President at Montrusco Associates Inc., and this publica-tion's regular analyst of the Top 30 portfolio. THE BROKERS CHOICE OF GROWTH COMPANIES IN QUEBEC Ticker Price Price Price Perform Dec97 Dec98 Oct98 Yr/date 1 Cognicase Inc. COG $17.55 $13.00 $23.00 31.10 2 Kaufel Group Ltd. KGL.A $3.65 $4.60 $7.95 117.8 3 UAP Auto Parts Inc. UAP.A $16.40 $18.00 $27.85 69.8 4 Groupe LGS Inc. LGS.A $16.90 $7.85 $11.05 -34.6 5 Cogeco Cable Inc. CCA $11.50 $13.25 $16.75 45.7 6 Groupe Coscient CST.A $3.75 $4.15 $5.10 36 7 Spectra Premium Industr SPD $10.50 $14.25 $17.50 66.7 8 Helix Hearing Care of A HCA $1 .92 $1.45 $1 .75 -8.9 9 Phoenix Internl Life Sc PHX $10.35 $9.20 $10.90 5.3 10 C-Mac Industries Inc. CMS $18.20 $18.00 $20.35 11.8 11 MPACT Immedia Corp IFM $3.20 $8.50 $9.50 196.9 12 Consoltex Group Inc. CTX $4.15 $3.55 $3.95 -4.8 13 Eicon Technology Corp. EIC $3.75 $2.87 $3.15 -16 14 Axcan Pharma Inc. AXP $12.80 $8.00 $8.75 -31.6 15 Richelieu Hardware Ltd. RCH $12.00 $14.00 $15.25 27.1 16 Uni-Select Inc. UNS $22.90 $24.80 $26.25 14.6 17 Coreco Inc. CRC $12.00 $4.75 $5.00 -58.3 18 Informission Group Inc. IFN $10.25 $8.65 $9.05 -11.7 19 Saturn Solutions Inc. SDQ $2.88 $3.40 $3.55 23.3 20 Perkins Papers Ltd. PKN $7.50 $6.05 $6.00 -20 21 Rolland Inc. RL $6.75 $6.00 $5.90 -12.6 22 Roctest Ltd. RU $4.20 $5.00 $4.90 16.7 23 Van Houtte Ltd. VH $23.40 $27.00 $26.40 12.8 24 Maax Inc. MXA $13.00 $16.60 $15.95 22.7 25 Dorel Industries Inc. DII.B $17.28 $21.75 $20.75 20.1 26 Microcell Telecom Inc. MJI.B $9.70 $8.50 $8.05 -17 27 Shermag Inc. SMG $17.15 $13.55 $12.75 -25.7 28 Paperboard Industries P1 $5.75 $2.75 $2.15 -62.6 29 Royal Aviation Inc. ROY $5.90 $3.75 $2.85 -51.7 30 Transat AT. Inc. TRZ $12.90 $7.25 $4.80 -62.8 Portfolio performance 10% TSE 3OO index -6.13% Nesbitt Burns Quebec Small cap index 6.42% Levesque Beaubien Quebec Small cap index -1.42%