Finance & Capital Management

Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc.

Starting on Canada Day, British Columbia will add provincial sales tax to all carbonated beverages that contain sugar.The new rules span bottled and canned soda, as well as beverages dispensed through soda fountains, soda guns and vending machines.Finance Minister Carole James announced in her budget last week that the 7% provincial sales tax will takes effect on July 1 and is expected to generate $27 million in revenues in the 2020-2021 budget year.Belgium, United Kingdom, Mexico, Chile, France, Portugal, Norway and Hungary charge an excise tax of 20% on such drinks, while eight cities in the United States also levy sugar taxes, including Berkeley, Calif., where a University of California study published last year in the American Journal of Public Health found sugar-drink consumption was down almost 52% in some neighbourhoods and water consumption was up 29%.The B.C.

Alimentation Couche-Tard confirms the announcement by Caltex Australia Limited that it has made a further revised non-binding, indicative offer to the Board of Caltex to acquire 100% of Caltex.

The Saskatchewan government has appointed a special mediator in a contract dispute that has dragged on for more than two months at a Regina oil refinery.

Caltex Australia Ltd., Australia's largest retail fuel and convenience chain, says it has received a revised takeover offer from Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc.

Amazon is to sell to hot food and espresso at select Amazon Go locations in the United States.

Suncor Energy Inc.'s on-again, off-again plan to add a coker unit to its Montreal refinery to allow it to process heavier barrels of oil, including oilsands bitumen, is off the table as it shuffles its spending priorities.

Delays and design changes have driven the cost to build the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion up by about 70% to $12.6 billion from the $7.4 billion estimate made three years ago, the company says.The project has cost about $2.5 billion to date, including the impact of delays and additional regulatory processes, leaving an additional $8.4 billion needed to complete construction, plus $1.7 billion of financial carrying costs, said president and CEO Ian Anderson on a conference call Feb.