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The Yellow Media Inc. logo is shown at the company's quarterly results meeting in Montreal, Thursday, May 6, 2010.Graham Hughes/The Canadian Press

Our roundup of Canadian small-caps of between $100-million and $2.5-billion in market capitalization making news and on the move today.

Home Capital Group Inc. (HCG-T) is increasing its dividend and buying back shares.

The Toronto-based mortgage lender says its quarterly dividend will increase 9.1 per cent or 2 cents per share to 24 cents, or 96 cents annually.

It also reported adjusted fourth-quarter net income of $71.8 million, down from $71.9 million for the same period in 2014. Adjusted earnings per share were $1.02 compared to $1.02 a year earlier.

Adjusted net income for 2015 was reported as $288.9 million or $4.11 per share, compared to $289.2 million and $4.11 in 2014.

The company said its board has authorized a share repurchase of up to $150 million, which is expected to be done through a substantial issuer bid.

It also provided an update on the mortgage fraud allegations investigation started last year, saying it's more than 40 per cent through the review.

"The company is reviewing and re-validating, where appropriate, the income documentation related to the identified group of mortgages and taking corrective action accordingly," it said. "Of the accounts reviewed, the company has determined that approximately 90 per cent of the mortgages reviewed to date could be eligible for renewal."

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Wine maker Andrew Peller Ltd (ADW.A-T, ADW.B-T) says third-quarter sales rose 5.3 per cent to $91.8 million compared to a year earlier, driven in part by the launch of new products.

Adjusted net earnings were $7.1 million or 51 cents per Class A share for the three months ended Dec. 31, compared to $5.7 million or 41 cents per share a year earlier.

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Just Energy Group, Inc. (JE-T, JE-N) said sales increased 7 per cent in the third quarter to $1 billion, in line with analyst expectations.

The Calgary-based energy management solutions provider also swung to a profit of $10.2 million or 4 cents per share, and raised its fiscal 2016 base earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization guidance to the high end of its previously provided range of $193 million to $203 million.

"Guidance exceeds a 20 per cent year-over-year increase when adjusted for the change in classification of customer acquisition costs in fiscal 2016," the company stated.

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Sherritt International Corp. (S-T) says its combined revenue fell 10 per cent to $1 billion in 2015.

Adjusted earning before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization fell 55 per cent to $113.1 million.

Its adjusted net loss from continuing operations was $351.3 million or $1.19 per share for the year, deeper than the loss of $246.5 million or 83 cents per share in 2014

In the fourth quarter, Sherritt reported an impairment expense of $1.6 billion on its Ambatovy nickel mine in Madagascar.

The company also said it is "determined not to fund further cash calls" at Ambatovy "to preserve liquidity and due to the current structure of the Ambatovy partner loans," which is says reduces its economic interest to 12 per cent from 40 per cent based on current nickel prices.

TD Securities analyst Greg Barnes is maintaining his "hold" on the stock and 60-cent price target. "We believe that halting the cash burn at Ambatovy is important for Sherritt, particularly given that we estimate that the company would have to fund upwards of $150 million–$200 million to the project this year at the current nickel price. But we do not have any clarity on the final resolution to the company's obligations to the project and its eventual ownership interest," Mr. Barnes said in a note on Thursday

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Acadian Timber Corp. (ADN-T) says 2015 sales rose 9 per cent to $84.4 million compared to a year earlier.

The 2015 sales came in slightly below analyst expectations of $88.35 million, according to Thomson Reuters.

Net income for the year ended Dec. 31 was $13.6 million or 82 cents per share, down from $43.2 million or $2.58 per share for 2014.

"The year-over-year decrease primarily reflects smaller non-cash fair value adjustments and no change to the revaluation of roads and land, partially offset by a lower deferred income tax expense," the company said.

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Mullen Group Ltd. (MTL-T) reported a steep drop in profit in fiscal 2015 due to the slump in the oil and gas sector

The trucking and logistics services company said net income fell nearly 86 per cent to $13.4 million, or 15 cents per share for the year, compared to $94.6 million or $1.04 per share in 2014. Adjusted net incomes was down 44 per cent to $73.6 million or 80 cents per share, compared to $131.1 million of $1.44 in 2014.

Revenues fell 15 per cent in fiscal 2015 to $1.2 billion,

"The oil and gas sector is quite simply a mess" stated CEO Murray Mullen. "Commodity prices have been decimated by the continued over supply situation, lack of demand and now ruthless financial markets, which always look to take advantage of any opportunity. The results are both evident and devastating to anyone involved in the oil and gas sector."

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Uni-Select Inc. (UNS-T) said sales fell 24 per cent in 2015 and that it fell to a loss compared to a year earlier.

The automotive refinish and industrial paint company reported consolidated sales of $1.4 billion (U.S.), down from $1.8 billion in 2014.

It said 2015 results include five months of operations from the net assets sold.

"On an organic basis, sales grew a healthy 2.6 per cent in 2015 but were impacted by the declining Canadian dollar, which alone penalized sales by $66.5 million or 6.3 per cent," the company said.

Its net loss was $40.2 million or $1.88 per share for the year ended Dec. 31, which is says was impacted by the sale of the net assets of U.S. parts operations. That compared to a profit of $50 million or $2.36 per share.

Adjusted earnings for the 2015 were $56.7 million or $2.66 per share, up from $55.3 million or $2.60 per share.

**

Redknee Solutions Inc. (RKN-T) says first-quarter revenue came in at $50.1-million (U.S.), which was below analyst expectations of $59.9 million. The results were also down when compared to $62.6 million for the same period a year earlier.

"The change in revenue compared to the prior year period resulted mainly from the impact of foreign exchange variation and lower license revenue compared to the same year-ago quarter," the company stated.

It said revenue was $54.8-million on a constant currency basis in the quarter ended Dec. 31.

The Toronto-based software company reported a net loss was $4.3-million or 4 cents per share, versus a net income of $2-million or 2 cents per share,

"As we look out to the year ahead, amidst the expected ongoing softness in service provider spending, we will remain laser-focused on maximizing our profitability and cash flow generation, while growing our proportion of recurring revenue," stated CEO Lucas Skoczkowski. "We remain steadfast in our commitment to continuing to advance our strong competitive position as the provider of choice for monetization and subscriber management solutions for service providers worldwide in our core communications market, while leveraging our reputation and experience in pursuit of the significant opportunities related to the Internet of Things."

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Precision Drilling Corp. (PD-T) says uses of its rigs was cut by more than half in Canada and the United States in the fourth quarter compared with a year earlier, resulting in less cash from operations and a bigger loss.

As a result, the Calgary-based company — Canada's largest contract drilling company for the energy sector — says it's suspending its dividend immediately. It had been paying seven cents per share each quarter throughout 2015.

Precision Drilling also revealed that its spending on capital projects last year totalled $459 million — $72 million less than a revised plan announced in October as the fourth quarter began.

The company's net loss for the fourth quarter that ended Dec. 31 was $271 million, or 93 cents per share — more than double the year-earlier loss of $114 million or 39 cents per share.

Revenue for the quarter was $345 million, 44 cents below the fourth quarter of 2014, and cash provided by operations was $71 million — a decline of 47 per cent.

Bad as the fourth quarter was, Precision Drilling's president and chief executive says the company's cash flows were better than expected and its financial liquidity improved — with $445 million of cash plus available credit.

"The land drilling industry is almost a year and a half into a deep downturn, a result of lower commodity prices pushing customer spending down and decreasing drilling demand," Precision Drilling CEO Kevin Neveu said in a statement.

"There is limited visibility with few positive market signals. In this protracted challenging environment, financial stability is paramount for both survival and sustaining competitive advantage."

Rig activity in Canada was down 51 per cent while in the United States it was down 55 per cent and elsewhere it was down 23 per cent.

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Yellow Pages Limited (Y-T)  says 2015 revenues fell 5.4 per cent to $829.8 million, compared to $877.5 million for the same period last year.

The company said digital revenues grew 9.8 per cent year-over-year to $486.3 million in 2015, as compared to $442.8 million the year prior. It said digital revenues represented 58.6 per cent of total revenues, up from 50.5 per cent in 2014, as it transitions away from print publications.

Net earnings fell to $61.1 million or $2.29 per share in 2015, down from $188.5 million or $6.95 per share in 2014, the company said in a release.

The company said the 2014 earnings included an $84.8 million income tax recovery "related to the cancellation of certain income tax liabilities following the settlement of past tax assessments."

It also said net earnings in 2015 were also hit by adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization.

With files from The Canadian Press

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