TORONTO, Feb. 12 /CNW/ - Canadian Tire Corporation, Limited (CTC, CTC.a)
today announced that it intends to make a normal course issuer bid (NCIB) to
purchase, from February 19, 2009 to February 18, 2010, through the facilities
of the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX), certain of its outstanding Class A
Non-Voting Shares. As at February 12th, 2009, there were 78,273,266 Class A
Non-Voting Shares issued and outstanding. The number of Class A Non-Voting
Shares which may be purchased during the period of the bid will not exceed 3.4
million Class A Non-Voting Shares, which is approximately 5.4 percent of 62.9
million shares, the approximate public float of Class A Non-Voting Shares
issued and outstanding as of February 12, 2009.
    Canadian Tire has a policy of purchasing Class A Non-Voting Shares to
offset the dilutive effects of the issuance of Class A Non-Voting Shares
pursuant to employee profit sharing, stock option and share purchase
arrangements and the Dividend Reinvestment Plan. Canadian Tire intends to
continue that policy by purchasing an appropriate number of Class A Non-Voting
Shares pursuant to the NCIB. In addition, Canadian Tire may purchase
additional Class A Non-Voting Shares if the Board of Canadian Tire determines,
after consideration of market conditions and Canadian Tire's financial
flexibility and investment opportunities, that a purchase of additional Class
A Non-Voting Shares is an appropriate means of enhancing the value of the
remaining Class A Non-Voting Shares.
    The number of Class A Non-Voting Shares purchased during 2008 pursuant to
an NCIB was 519,800. The average price at which such purchases were made was
$57.49 per Class A Non-Voting Share, including commissions.
    Any purchases made pursuant to the NCIB will be made in accordance with
the rules of the TSX and will be made at the market price of the Class A
Non-Voting Shares at the time of the acquisition. Canadian Tire will make no
purchases of Class A Non-Voting Shares other than open market purchases which
may be made during the period that the NCIB is outstanding. Subject to any
block purchases made in accordance with the rules of the TSX, Canadian Tire
will be subject to a daily repurchase restriction of 88,544 Class A Non-Voting
Shares, which represent 25 percent of the average daily trading volume of
Canadian Tire's Class A Non-Voting Shares on the TSX for the six months ended
January 31, 2009.
    Canadian Tire Corporation, Limited (TSX: CTC.a, CTC), operates more than
1,200 general merchandise and apparel retail stores and gas stations in an
inter-related network of businesses engaged in retail, financial services and
petroleum. Canadian Tire Retail, Canada's most shopped general merchandise
retailer, with 475 stores operated by dealers across Canada offers a unique
mix of products and services through three specialty categories in which the
organization is the market leader - Automotive, Sports and Leisure, and Home
Products. www.canadiantire.ca offers Canadians the opportunity to research
more than 25,000 products online. PartSource is an automotive parts specialty
chain with 86 stores designed to meet the needs of purchasers of automotive
parts - professional automotive installers and serious do-it-yourselfers.
Canadian Tire Petroleum is one of the country's largest and most productive
independent retailers of gasoline, operating 273 gas bars, 266 convenience
stores and kiosks, and 74 car washes. Mark's Work Wearhouse is one of the
country's leading apparel retailers operating 372 stores in Canada. Under the
Clothes that Work™ marketing strategy, Mark's sells apparel and footwear in
work, work-related, casual and active-wear categories, as well as health-care
and business-to-business apparel. www.marks.com offers Canadians the
opportunity to shop for Mark's products online. Canadian Tire Financial
Services has issued over 5 million Canadian Tire MasterCard credit cards and
also markets related financial products and services for retail and petroleum
customers. Canadians can also access Financial Services online at
www.ctfs.com. More than 57,000 Canadians work across Canadian Tire's
organization from coast-to-coast in the enterprise's retail, financial
services, and petroleum businesses.