Abitibi Royalties

Q4 2019 Royalty Payment

25% Dividend Increase - CDN$0.15 Per Share Annual Basis to Be Paid Monthly

VAL-D’OR, Québec, Jan. 20, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Abitibi Royalties Inc. (RZZ-TSX-V, ATBYF-OTC-Nasdaq Intl: “Abitibi Royalties” or the “Company”) is pleased to announce its Q4 2019 royalty payment from the Canadian Malartic Mine, located near Val-d’Or, Québec and total cash¹ generated during the quarter. In addition, the Company’s board of directors has approved, effective April 2020, a 25% dividend increase to the Company’s outstanding common shares from CDN$0.12 to CDN$0.15 per common share on an annualized basis. The frequency of the payment of dividends will be changed from quarterly to monthly, also effective April 2020. The Company is unique among its peers due to its strong treasury, no debt, new monthly dividend, share buyback program and limited number of outstanding shares (approximately 12.5 million).

Q4 2019 Royalty Payment

During Q4 2019, the Company generated total cash of approximately CDN$2.1 million, with approximately CDN$999,000 coming from royalties on the open pit portion contained within the Company’s 3% NSR at the Canadian Malartic Mine. Royalties from the open pit portion of the Canadian Malartic Mine commenced at the end of Q4 2018 (the Company’s core underground royalties at East Malartic and Odyssey are not in production). The Canadian Malartic Mine is the largest gold mine in Canada and is operated by Agnico Eagle Mines Limited (“Agnico Eagle”) and Yamana Gold Inc. (“Yamana”). The remainder of the cash generated during the quarter came from option premiums (CDN$268,000), Dividends (CDN$140,000) and taxable capital gains from equity investments (CDN$697,000).

During the twelve months ended December 31, 2019, the Company generated cash of approximately CDN$5.3 million (See news release dated April 16, 2019 for Q1 2019, July 17, 2019 for Q2 2019 and October 16, 2019 for Q3 2019 breakdowns).

The Company has 12,521,610 issued shares, with no warrants, stock options or other forms of share-based compensation outstanding.

25% Dividend Increase to be paid Monthly

The Company’s board of directors has approved a 25% dividend increase from CDN$0.12 to CDN$0.15 per common share on an annualized basis. The frequency of dividend payments will also be changed from quarterly to monthly. The increased dividend amount and the payment of monthly dividends will begin in April 2020. Table 1. below sets out the record and payment dates for shareholders for Q1 and Q2 2020.