AirBoss stock jumps to five-year high on news of another COVID respirator contract

The Canadian Press

A worker tests electronic boards for bridge ventilators at Boyce Technologies Inc. in Long Island City in the Queens borough of New York, U.S., on Thursday, April 23, 2020. New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio announced in a press release a city-convened effort to produce a new line of bridge ventilators to support local hospitals by supplementing limited ventilator resources and to help shore up the New York City Strategic Reserve for future crises. Photographer: Mark Kauzlarich/Bloomberg , Bloomberg

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NEWMARKET, Ont. -- AirBoss of America Corp. shares shot to a five-year high Monday after the Ontario company got a contract worth up to US$121 million to supply air purifying respirators to the U.S. government.

The shares hit an intraday high of $24.71 early Monday on the Toronto Stock Exchange and closed at $23.65, up $3.95 or 20 per cent.

The contract was awarded by the U.S. Department for Health and Human Services to AirBoss Defense Group, a subsidiary that makes personal protective equipment.

AirBoss says the contract includes 50,000 respirators, three million filters and related accessories, which will be delivered to the U.S. Strategic National Stockpile.

The contract for U.S. Health and Human Services follows a US$96 million contract in March for 10,000 air-purifying respirators for the U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).

The U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs has also ordered US$2.55 million worth of additional filters and other equipment for respirators supplied under the FEMA contract.