Canadian firms continue to benefit from rising commodity prices

OTTAWA, June 21, 2006 - AKR Capital Research today released its annual ranking of Canadian wealth creating companies for 2005. Heading the top of the list was Talisman Energy, which created $2.6 billion in wealth, followed by Suncor Energy Inc. at $2.31 billion and Canadian Natural Resources at $1.83 billion. Alcan Inc, was ranked as the largest destroyer of capital at $2.61 billion. The companies were ranked by Economic Profit, an alternative performance measure that measures a firm's residual wealth created when its cost of capital is deducted from its operating profit (adjusted for taxes on a cash basis). EP (or Economic Valued Added (tm) as it is more prominently referred) has gained more prominence as a measurement of financial performance for its ability to filter out accounting items, which can distort Net Income. The rankings are based on analysis of TSX Composite non-financial and non-income trust companies. The 2006 Annual Survey of Canadian Financial Performance is now available for purchase on the company website: http://www.akrcapitalresearch.com/Ranking-2002.cfm. Media outlets may obtain an electronic copy of the report by sending an email request to: media@akrcapitalresearch.com and indicating their media credentials. AKR Capital Research is an independent investment research company that specializes in investment analysis of Canadian publicly traded companies.