National Business

TORONTO — The amount of commercial rent payments for May look to be similar to April, several real estate investment trusts said while reporting quarterly earnings, in spite of concerns the picture would worsen amid extended business closures.

CALGARY — One of Canada's biggest drilling companies will cut its dividend and further reduce spending as a deep downturn in North American oil and gas exploration continues to weigh on the oilfield services sector.

OTTAWA — Consumer insolvencies are expected to spike in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic despite a reprieve in the number of filings in March.

VANCOUER, B.C. — SSR Mining Inc. and Alacer Gold Corp. have signed a deal to merge operations. Under the all-stock deal, Alacer shareholders will receive 0.3246 SSR Mining shares for each Alacer share held. The exchange ratio implies a value of $8.

CALGARY — WestJet says it is extending many flight cancellations into early July as it continues to deal with record-low passenger numbers due to COVID-19.

VANCOUVER — Family-owned Army & Navy says it has become a victim of the COVID-19 pandemic and will permanently close its department stores after 101 years in business in Western Canada.

TORONTO — Five things to watch for in the Canadian business world in the coming week: What we're buying Statistics Canada will release a report on Canadian grocery sales up to April 11 on Monday.

CALGARY — Work-from-home measures taken to control the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic are challenging long-held assumptions about how Canada's oil and gas sector should provide and care for its office workers.

VANCOUVER — The retail, food and restaurant sectors are calling for more help in the wake of new job numbers that show B.C. lost about 264,000 jobs in April.

TORONTO — Some of the most active companies traded Friday on the Toronto Stock Exchange: Toronto Stock Exchange (14,966.56, up 132.87 points.) Freegold Ventures Ltd. (TSX:FVL). Materials. Up 11 cents, or 47.