NZX CLOSE: NZ shares fall, led by NZR; Ebos gains with earnings

Thursday 20th August 2009

New Zealand shares fell, extending their slide from a 10-month high, led by New Zealand Refining, PGG Wrightson and Nuplex Industries. Ebos Group led gains in companies that posted better-than-expected earnings.

The NZX 50 Index fell 27.93, or 0.9%, to 3053.10. Within the index, 31 stocks fell, 10 rose and eight were unchanged. Turnover was $70.7 million.

New Zealand Refining (NZX: NZR ) tumbled 8.8% to $5.06, the lowest level in almost four years. The company has shed 23% since its announcement on August 18 that it is facing an operating loss in the second half of the year after posting a 2.8% drop in the first half as its refining margin shrank.

PGG Wrightson (NZX: PGW ), the nation’s biggest rural services company, declined 5.6% to 85 cents. Affco Holdings, the biggest North Island meat processor, yesterday said its processing margins are being squeezed by a combination of a high kiwi dollar and dwindling supplies of livestock. Affco fell 2.6% to 38 cents today.

NZ Farming Systems Uruguay (NZX: NZS ) fell 4.3% to 45 cents and Nuplex Industries (NZX: NPX ) fell 4.4% to $2.15.

Ebos Group Ltd (NZX: EBO ), a distributor of healthcare products and medical equipment, gained 2.5% to $5.74 after posting an 18% gain in annual profit to a record NZ$19.7 million and saying it is upbeat about the future prospects of the health sector “as it has proved to be very resilient."

Mainfreight (NZX: MFT ), the biggest trucking company on the NZX 50, rose 2.3% to $4.90 after reporting a 67% drop in first-quarter profit on restructuring costs and citing a pick-up in volumes since the end of the period.

“Trading conditions in all countries during the first three months of the financial year were difficult and followed trading similar to that experienced during January to March,” managing director Don Braid said. “Trading in July and August sees some improvement and it is our expectations that this will continue into the third and fourth quarters.”

Companies that typically benefit from a weaker kiwi dollar because it swells the value of exports fell as the currency climbed above 67.50 U.S. cents.

Fishing company Sanford Ltd (NZX: SAN ) fell 2.9% to $4.95 and Fisher & Paykel Healthcare (NZX: FPH ), which gets almost 80% of its sales in U.S. dollars, fell 2.7% to $3.25.

Children’s clothing chain Pumpkin Patch (NZX: PPL ) declined 3.2% to $1.84. Jeweller Michael Hill International (NZX: MHI ) rose about 3% to 69 cents, leading the benchmark index higher.

AMP Ltd (NZX: AMP ) rose 2.1% to $7.45 after the Australia-based insurer reported underlying profit fell to A$367 million in the six months through June, beating analyst estimates of A$352 million.

SmartPay Ltd (NZX: SPY ) soared 31% to 3.4 cents, its second daily jump, after the merchant services company snapped up the Payments Division of ProvencoCadmus, in receivership, for $6 million, becoming New Zealand’s largest EFTPOS company.

Port of Tauranga (NZX: POT ) slipped 0.8% to N6.59 after New Zealand’s biggest port company posted a 7% gain in full-year profit on lower finance costs and increased returns from Northport, while volumes across its own wharves fell.

Total trade across Tauranga’s wharves slipped 0.5% to 13.5 million tonnes. Container volumes fell 6% to 546,521 TEUs.

“The financial market collapse caused a commodity boom to turn to bust and for Port of Tauranga, meant considerable change to trading patterns with overcapacity, especially in container shipping,” said chairman John Parker.

Businesswire.co.nz

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