Thursday’s small-cap stocks to watch

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Our roundup of Canadian small-caps making news and on the move today.

NYX Gaming Group Ltd. said it has struck a deal with Amaya Inc. to acquire Chartwell Technology Inc. and CryptoLogic Ltd. for $150-million. Earlier this year, Amaya announced plans to divest its business-to-business assets to pay down debt and buy back shares. The deal will "provide NYX with additional leading gaming content and access to what we believe will be one of the world's fastest growing online casinos," said Matt Davey, CEO of NYX. The agreement also involves a subsidiary of Amaya and NYX entering into a supplier licensing agreement under which NYX will provide casino gaming content to Amaya's real-money casino offering, which Amaya intends to integrate into the PokerStars and Full Tilt branded casino websites.

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Automodular Corp. said it may acquire up to 10 per cent of its outstanding common shares under its share repurchase program. The company's stock has recently traded at levels that do not reflect the underlying value of the company, the release said. Automodular's strong cash position allows for the buyback without adversely affecting other growth opportunities, the company said.

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Tuckamore Capital Management Inc. announced the appointment of John Cooper as chief executive officer of ClearStream Energy Holdings. He previously served as executive vice-president, operations and chief operating officer of Savanna Energy Services Corp. Mr. Cooper replaces Paul Hatcher, who announced in November that he would be stepping down as Tuckamore's CEO.

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ADF Group Inc. announced a series of commercial agreements with new and existing clients totalling more than $46-million in business. "All these new orders were awarded in the U.S. east coast, and are part of different new construction projects for commercial and industrial buildings, and a transport infrastructure project," the company said. The new work will begin in the coming weeks and extend until the spring of 2016, ADF said.

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Corus Entertainment Inc. announced its second-quarter financial results, which showed a net loss attributable to shareholders of $86.8-million ($1.01 per diluted share), which compares to net income of $6.1-million ($0.07 per share) in the second quarter of last year. Revenues were virtually flat year-over-year at $191.5-million. The quarter's net loss includes a non-cash radio broadcast license and goodwill impairment charge of $130-million, Corus said. Removing the impact of the impairment charge and other items results in an adjusted net income attributable to shareholders of $28.5-million ($0.33 per share). The comparable adjusted figure for the prior year amounted to $26.8-million ($0.32 per share). "In the second quarter, the company continued to see strong audience delivery, particularly from our Women's, Family and French-language specialty networks, and improved radio ratings in certain key markets," said Doug Murphy, Corus' CEO. "However, as economic headwinds continue to impact advertising market confidence, we do not expect to achieve our segment profit guidance for fiscal 2015."

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First National Financial Corp. announced the issuance of $175-million of new five-year senior unsecured notes. "This successful offering gives First National a good source of long-term funding," said Robert Inglis, First National's CFO.

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Blackbird Energy Inc. said it has acquired a 100-per-cent working interest in 12 additional sections of Montney rights. The deal represents a 17-per-cent increase to the company's Elmworth Montney land position. "With these latest land acquisitions coupled with our first two Montney wells which validate the liquids-rich nature of our project, Blackbird has now assembled a significant prospective resource to attract multiple midstream investment options to facilitate takeaway at Elmworth," said Garth Braun, CEO of Blackbird.

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Sandvine Corp. reported its first quarter financial results, which included revenue of $32.4-million, which is up by 3 per cent over the prior year, and net income of $10.2-million, which represents a 36-per-cent increase. "This is Sandvine's tenth consecutive quarter of profitability and year-over-year revenue growth," said Dave Caputo, Sandvine's CEO. "Our growth once again led industry analysts to name Sandvine the market share leader in 2014."

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NovaCopper Inc. reported a first-quarter net loss of $1.5-million ($0.03 per share), compared to a net loss of $2.6-million ($0.05 per share) in the prior year's quarter. The difference was primarily due to a decrease in professional fees, salaries and mineral property expenses, the company said.

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Nobilis Health Corp. released a revenue estimate of between $33-million and $35-million for the three months ended March 31, representing a near-tripling of revenue from the first quarter of 2014. The company also said that in anticipation of its listing on the NYSE MKT exchange, it will no longer be issuing revenue figures in advance of earnings releases.