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![\"MIKE](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/4363029_web1_250320-perimeter0618.jpg\")
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MIKE DEAL \/ FREE PRESS files<\/p>\n
EIC\u2019s track record is \u2018exceptionally rare\u2019 and supported \u2018by a good business model that\u2019s well executed,\u2019 says Michael Pyle, CEO of Exchange Income Corp.<\/p>\n
Manitoba\u2019s market miracle is Exchange Income Corp. (TSX: EIF). A publicly traded conglomerate on the Toronto Stock Exchange, it has a similar strategy.<\/p>\n
It acquires and owns great companies for the long term, while investing in them so they can become even more successful and profitable.<\/p>\n
Its companies include a mix of well-known and lower-profile names in Canadian aerospace, defence and manufacturing. Among the better known companies, at least in Manitoba, are Perimeter Aviation and Calm Air.<\/p>\n
Berkshire Hathaway\u2019s \u201cmodel is looking for great businesses with strong market niches, competitive moats and dependable cash flows,\u201d says Travis Muhr, chief administrative officer with Exchange Income Corp.<\/p>\n
The formula is much the same for EIC since its founding in 2004 by its executive vice-chairman and director, Duncan Jessiman, and Michael Pyle, its chief executive officer.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe premise of EIC was really, \u2018How can we create a platform to acquire great businesses and invest in them to become even more successful?\u2019\u201d Muhr adds.<\/p>\n
Of course, to those at EIC, its success is no miracle. Rather, its success is founded on a winning formula of finding great companies and letting them continue to do great things.<\/p>\n
What started with the acquisition of Perimeter for $18 million more than 20 years ago has resulted in EIC today being the parent company of more than 20 firms, including many key aviators serving the North.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re bigger than Air Canada in terms of market capitalization,\u201d says Pyle, who previously was president of the Arctic Glacier Income Fund.<\/p>\n
He points to EIC\u2019s total value of all its shares, worth roughly $7.3 billion, versus Canada\u2019s largest airline, worth about $6 billion.<\/p>\n
\u201cAir Canada is a great business, but they do different things than we do,\u201d he says. \u201cWe\u2019ve become really good at flying into difficult places.\u201d<\/p>\n
In EIC\u2019s eyes, its companies serving the North are not traditional airlines, they are essential infrastructure.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese airlines provide an essential service,\u201d Muhr says. \u201cWhen you think about communities in northern Manitoba and Nunavut, the airlines serving them are important lifelines.\u201d<\/p>\n
Most of these communities rely on winter roads for transport of goods and people, and are mostly only accessible by air during the warmer months.<\/p>\n
EIC also owns Keewatin Air, which specializes in medivac from remote communities.<\/p>\n
The Manitoba conglomerate owns more than aircraft operators. For example, it owns a diversified aerospace firm PAL Group of Companies. The Newfoundland-based company has a footprint in the defence industry, operating special mission aircraft for maritime surveillance.<\/p>\n
Other EIC subsidiaries include Ben Machine Products in Vaughn, Ont., that provides metal components for defence and aerospace. It also owns a specialized climate control manufacturer, custom industrial fabricators, industrial mat manufacturers and providers, a telecom infrastructure company and a window manufacturer for high-rises.<\/p>\n
For more than two decades, EIC had grown quietly, largely under the radar of more investors. That is until the last year, becoming among the top-performing, mid-sized stocks by percentage share price growth on the Toronto Stock Exchange.<\/p>\n
Its share price is up more than 100 per cent over the last year, and has frequently topped $130 while paying a dividend yield of about two per cent.<\/p>\n
EIC\u2019s growing dividend has long attracted equity investors favouring income, but it is no slouch when it comes to growth either, averaging about a 23 per cent compounding return over its history, Pyle says.<\/p>\n
By comparison, the TSX Composite Index\u2019s long-term annualized return is about eight per cent.<\/p>\n
EIC\u2019s track record is \u201cexceptionally rare,\u201d he adds. Investor demand may drive share price growth, but that is supported \u201cby a good business model that\u2019s well executed,\u201d Pyle says. \u201cMost importantly, it\u2019s driven by really good management in the field.\u201d<\/p>\n
From the start, EIC has acquired well-managed companies in Canada and the U.S. It then lets them continue to do just that under their own brands, while providing support \u2014 including capital \u2014 to become more successful, Pyle says.<\/p>\n
Where EIC plies its trade is fertile ground. Canada and the U.S. are home to many privately owned, medium-sized businesses with aging owners facing retirement with limited succession choices.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a silver tsunami where a bunch of baby boomers and Gen Xers, who have built fantastic businesses, don\u2019t have exit plans,\u201d Muhr says.<\/p>\n
Still, it is a competitive landscape. EIC\u2019s main competitors are private equity, but the Winnipeg company often wins out over these generally higher bidders.<\/p>\n
PAL Aerospace is an example, Pyle says. \u201cThe owner had retired already \u2026 and there were four offers that he deemed acceptable.\u201d<\/p>\n
But the owner asked his management team who they wanted, \u201cand they picked us.\u201d<\/p>\n
That was a result of EIC\u2019s reputation for not operating like private equity.<\/p>\n
Often private equity firms acquire a company using debt, implement efficiencies \u2014 often cutting jobs and less profitable business lines \u2014 and then sell it at a higher price.<\/p>\n
EIC is different. It purchases companies to hold them long term.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen we\u2019re buying a business, we want to make sure the management teams stick around and become part of the EIC family,\u201d Muhr says.<\/p>\n
\n\t\tWinnipeg Free Press | Newsletter\n\t<\/p>\n
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Although EIC\u2019s recent success with share price growth might prove a hard act to follow, Pyle is confident its proven formula has a long runway of providing value for investors. \u201cIt\u2019s just a matter of us remaining patient, finding the right deals and not overpaying.\u201d<\/p>\n
EIC has many great private companies in Canada, the U.S. and even Europe on its radar to build on its success, he adds.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re just scratching the surface of what\u2019s out there.\u201d<\/p>\n
Joel Schlesinger is a Winnipeg-based freelance journalist<\/p>\n
joelschles@gmail.com<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Omaha, Neb., has its \u201cOracle,\u201d but Manitoba has its market miracle. The legendary Warren Buffett transformed Berkshire Hathaway…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":779595,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194296],"tags":[49,48,22073],"class_list":["post-779594","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-winnipeg","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-winnipeg"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/779594","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=779594"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/779594\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/779595"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=779594"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=779594"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=779594"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}