TSX Venture Statistics – January 2005 - Background Commentary

• There were 2 graduates to Toronto Stock Exchange in January 2005. These graduates represent 20.0% of the senior market's new listings this year compared to 50.0% for the same period last year.
• As of the end of January 2005, Novitas Energy Ltd. was acquired by a TSX listed company.

• As of the end of January, there were 244 financing deals on TSX Venture, raising a total of $295.4 million, a decrease of 36.2% compared to last year’s numbers of $463.3 million through 311 financing deals.
• Year-over-year, the average size of the financings has decreased from $1.49 million to $1.21 million, a decrease of 18.8%.
• As of the end of January, the Mining sector led the way in financing, raising a total of $135.6 million (representing 45.9% of the total). The Oil & Gas sector was second with $87.6 million (representing 29.7% of the total). The Technology sector captured 4.8% of the financing with $14.1 million raised.
• Galleon Energy Inc., an oil & gas exploration and production company and Pelorus Energy Corp., an oil & gas exploration company, completed the largest financing deals in January 2005. Both companies raised $15.0 million each through private financing deals. WaveForm Energy Ltd., another oil & gas exploration company, completed the next largest financing, raising $10.6 million through an initial public offering in January 2005.

• There were 11 new listings in the month of January. Year-to-date new listings have remained the same compared to the same period in 2004.
• The Mining sector generated 45.5% of the new listings and 36.4% were from the Capital Pool CompanyTM (CPCTM) program. The Oil & Gas and Biotechnology sectors each generated 9.1% of the new listings.
• The regional breakdown of new listing is as follows: Alberta (18.2%), British Columbia (9.1%), Ontario (54.5%), Quebec (9.1%) and Foreign (9.1%).
• As of January 2005, there were 5 Reverse Take Over transactions, 4 Qualifying Transactions and 9 Initial Public Offerings (IPOs) (including CPCs).

• The S&P/TSX Venture Composite Index closed at 1,795.8 on January 31, 2005, a decrease of 1.6% from the close on December 31, 2004 . The S&P/TSX Composite Index was down 0.5%, the NASDAQ Composite decreased 5.2% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 2.7% over the same period.

• The market capitalization for TSX Venture Exchange equities was $25.2 billion as of January 31, 2005 – an increase of 5.4% from December 31, 2004 and an increase of 16.2% from January 30, 2004.

Financing

• There were a total of 12 private placements in the month of January, raising a total of $6.4 million. This represents an increase of 73.0% compared to the $3.7 million raised in December 2004 and an increase of 255.6% from the same period last year.

• Total volume traded for January 2005 was 57.3 million shares, representing a rise of 38.7% over December 2004 and an increase of 6.5% from January 2004.
• Total value traded for January 2005 was $12.3 million, an increase of 80.9% from the $6.8 million traded in December 2004 and an increase of 35.2% from January 2004.
• The total number of transactions for January 2005 was 5,884, an increase of 5.8% from December 2004 and an increase of 3.8% from January 2004.
• 8 companies graduated to TSX Venture in the month of January.

• The market capitalization for NEX equities was $294.6 million as of January 31, 2005 – a decrease of 6.9% from December 31, 2004 and a decrease of 16.6% from January 30, 2004.