Algoma Central Corporation Announces Renewal of Normal Course Issuer Bid

Executive Summary

• Algoma Central Corporation announced that the Toronto Stock Exchange has accepted its notice to renew its Normal Course Issuer Bid (NCIB) for the period Mar 23 2026 – Mar 22 2027.
• The renewed NCIB permits Algolia to purchase up to 2,028,391 shares (≈5% of outstanding shares) and up to 2,057 shares per trading day, with purchases to be cancelled.
• An Automatic Share Purchase Plan (ASPP) has been established to enable share buy‑backs during internal blackout periods, commencing with the Q1 2026 results blackout on Mar 31 2026.

Key Details

• NCIB Scope: Up to 2,028,391 shares may be bought over a twelve‑month period (≈5% of the 40,567,816 shares outstanding as of Mar 9 2026).
• Daily Purchase Limit: Maximum of 2,057 shares per trading day (≈25% of average daily volume over the prior six months, i.e., 8,230 shares).
• Share Cancellation: All shares purchased under the NCIB will be cancelled.
• Automatic Share Purchase Plan (ASPP):
• Enables purchases during periods when Algoma is normally restricted from trading (e.g., blackout periods).
• Purchases are at the broker’s discretion, based on parameters set by Algoma prior to each blackout period.
• ASPP starts with the Q1 2026 results blackout (Mar 31 2026) and ends when either the annual purchase limit is reached, Algoma terminates the ASPP, or the NCIB expires.
• Previous NCIB: Ran from Mar 21 2025 to Mar 20 2026; no shares were purchased under that program as of Mar 9 2026.
• Purpose Statement: Board believes market price may not reflect intrinsic value and that repurchases represent an appropriate use of funds.

Notable Quotes

• “Algoma’s Board of Directors believes that the market price of Algoma’s common shares may not reflect the inherent value of the Company and purchases of Shares pursuant to the NCIB may represent an appropriate and desirable use of funds.” – President & CEO Gregg A. Ruhl
• “The ASPP constitutes an ‘automatic securities purchase plan’ under applicable Canadian securities laws, allowing us flexibility to buy back shares even during blackout periods.” – CFO Christopher Lazarz, CPA, CA