“It has been very gratifying this year. We profited from a fairly buoyant market, but at the same time we are just getting people coming at us from all directions. They come to raise money. They raised a lot of money. Our listed companies in November raised something like $1.2 billion. Last year I think it was $3.5 billion in a year. It is roundabout $5 billion so far this year. That has been great.” States Rob Cook, Senior Vice President of Market Development at The Canadian Securities Exchange, in an interview with InvestorIntel Corp. CEO Tracy Weslosky.

Tracy Weslosky: How many new listings have you had since I saw you last, roundabout? 

Rob Cook: About 20. That was just a month ago. Right?

Tracy Weslosky: In other words you continue to progress with your hockey stick expansion and growth?

Rob Cook: It has been very gratifying this year. We profited from a fairly buoyant market, but at the same time we are just getting people coming at us from all directions. They come to raise money. They raised a lot of money. Our listed companies in November raised something like $1.2 billion. Last year I think it was $3.5 billion in a year. It is roundabout $5 billion so far this year. That has been great.

Tracy Weslosky: I think there is a lot of incorrect data out there so I am so happy you were able to join us. Is this market specific? I mean there are rumors on the streets, it is all cannabis growth, but I have seen other types of companies listed on the CSE. Can you talk to us about that? 

Rob Cook: You have. We have had some interesting tech companies list recently. One is called Nerds On Site. They offer desktop support to small businesses. They have been in business for 23 years. They are located in London, Ontario. They are doing a big expansion in the United States. They did an IPO; just listed a couple of weeks ago.

Tracy Weslosky: That is an excellent example because we at InvestorIntel actually utilize Nerds On Site.

Rob Cook: Do you?

Tracy Weslosky: Yeah, but I think that is an excellent example where there are misnomers out there that many of your clients are just Canadian-based. I know Nerds On Site, for instance, have expansion plans into the United States.

Rob Cook: Yes.

Tracy Weslosky: Many of your companies now are actually Americans coming to list on the CSE. Can you talk to us about that?

Rob Cook: It has always been a bit cheaper to go public in Canada than the United States. Currently we have experienced quite a few fairly large companies from the United States, most of them in the cannabis sector. Not all of them are cannabis growers or sellers. A lot of them are more suppliers and ciliary businesses. We just listed one called Cresco Labs. They are in several states. They are providing services to cannabis growers across the United States. That has been very interesting. We continue to get a lot of interest from further afield, Mexico, Colombia, Jamaica. I am going to Jamaica in January for Capital Markets Conference there, also Europe and Asia and even Israel.

Tracy Weslosky: What you are saying is that the CSE has really gone global here in the last year or two..to access the complete interview, click here

Disclaimer: The Canadian Securities Exchange is an advertorial member of InvestorIntel Corp.

“One of the things that we look at is the turnover ratio, which measures the value of the trading divided by the market cap of the stocks. Despite the fact that our market cap has been rising so has the trading volume. We routinely look at it on a monthly basis. Using that measure, the liquidity on the CSE has exceeded that of the TSX and the Venture Exchange for well over 2 years. We do not tell people that that means we have a more liquid market.  We tell people that that means we have a no less liquid market.” States Rob Cook, Senior Vice President of Market Development of The Canadian Securities Exchange, in an interview with InvestorIntel Corp. CEO Tracy Weslosky.

Tracy Weslosky: Hockey stick performance in the market, let us talk about the CSE. You have outperformed pretty much everybody. Can you give us some of the highlights Rob? 

Rob Cook: The highlights have gone on for many years, but it has been the last couple of years that we have seen the hockey stick that we were always hoping would come about and we had a lot of confidence that it would because we just went over 1% at a time to our exchange, to our market model, to the way that we do business. It has been very gratifying to see the recent results. The number of companies that are listing, the amount of money that they are raising and financing has just been tremendous.

Tracy Weslosky: Let us talk to the numbers. Many investors out there are a little more short-term memory and they are looking forward. With the CSE, your market cap has increased from X to X in the last year. 

Rob Cook: It has increased from a little over $4 billion to close to $14 billion.

Tracy Weslosky: In addition to that, how many new companies have listed in the last year?

Rob Cook: Could not tell you in 12 months, but I do know in 9 months. I think we are up 126 companies, which is going to already exceed our largest year before.

Tracy Weslosky: I have always perceived it to be a fallacy that your volume of trading is lower than other exchanges. Can you correct that fallacy? 

Rob Cook: Yes, quite easily. One of the things that we look at is the turnover ratio, which measures the value of the trading divided by the market cap of the stocks. Despite the fact that our market cap has been rising so has the trading volume. We routinely look at it on a monthly basis. Using that measure, the liquidity on the CSE has exceeded that of the TSX and the Venture Exchange for well over 2 years. We do not tell people that that means we have a more liquid market.  We tell people that that means we have a no less liquid market. What we have today, and the recent past, is we have stocks that investors are really interested in trading so it is extremely active.

Tracy Weslosky: I was recently speaking at an investment conference and I was stating that one of the areas we are following are the Americans that have started to trade in Canada and list specifically on the CSE. Are they all cannabis stocks or are you actually getting other types of stories right now Rob?

Rob Cook: We are getting a few other stories. Because of the increased interest in the cannabis sector and the fact that we have had several from the United States that have come to us already it has broadened the awareness, but we have always had a few. When we launched our exchange in 2003 we only had 3 companies and 1 of those was American. That company raised about $100 million dollars while it was listed on the CSE…to access the complete interview, click here

Disclaimer: The Canadian Securities Exchange is an advertorial member of InvestorIntel Corp.