TSX Venture Statistics – June 2004 Background Commentary

Graduates

There were 9 graduates to the Toronto Stock Exchange in June 2004, bringing the total number of YTD graduates to 30. These graduates represent 30.6% of the senior market's new listings this year compared to 45.8% for the same period last year.
So far in 2004, 11 TSX Venture companies have been acquired/merged with TSX listed companies.

Year-To-Date Financing

As of the end of June, there were 1,178 financing deals on TSX Venture, raising a total of $2.3 billion, an increase of approximately 192% compared to last year’s numbers of $790.1 million through 958 financing deals.
Year-over-year, the average size of the financings has increased from $0.82 million to $1.96 million, an increase of 139%.
So far this year, the Mining sector is leading the way in financing, raising a total of $1.4 billion (representing 59% of the total). The Oil & Gas sector is second with $451.3 million (representing 20% of the total). The Technology sector has captured 7% of the financing with $163.2 million raised.
South Atlantic Ventures Ltd., a mining company, completed the largest single financing year-to-date, raising $160 million through a public offering deal in June. EuroZinc Mining Corporation, another mining company, completed the next largest single financing year-to-date, raising $78.5 million through a private placement deal in April 2004.

Going Public Activity

There were 10 new listings in the month of June. Year-to-date new listings have increased 119.4% compared to the same period in 2003.
The Capital Pool program has generated 59% of the new listings, 18% have come from the Mining sector and 10% have come from the Oil & Gas sector.
The regional breakdown of new listings is as follow: Alberta (29%), British Columbia (19%), Ontario (21%), Quebec (22%), Manitoba (3%), Atlantic Canada (2%) and Foreign (4%).
As of June 30, 2004, there were 14 Reverse Take Over transactions, 30 Qualifying Transactions and 58 IPOs (including CPCs).

Index

The S&P/TSX Venture Composite Index closed at 1,570.35 on June 30, 2004, a decrease of 10.3% from the beginning of 2004. The S&P/TSX Composite Index increased 3.9%, the NASDAQ Composite increased 2.2% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average decreased 0.2% over the same period.

Market Capitalization

The market capitalization for TSX Venture Exchange equities was $20.69 billion as of June 30, 2004 – a decrease of 1.4% from May 2004 and an increase of 74.5% from the same period last year.