Stocks to watch: Botry-Zen, NZX, Heritage, Methven

Tuesday 8th December 2009

The following stocks may be active on the New Zealand exchange after developments since the close of trading yesterday.

Themes of the day: There are many risks that threaten the sustainability of the economy’s growth, the Treasury said in its economic indicator report for November, released yesterday. Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke said the U.S. economy faces “formidable headwinds” that will “moderate” pace of expansion.

Botry-Zen Ltd (NZX: BOZ ): The maker of natural grape fungal controls has proposed a share purchase plan to raise $1.5m to continue to operate and seriously pursue international opportunities its chairman Stephen Higgs said. Shareholders will be offered the opportunity to purchase additional shares in two tranches, before Christmas and in late March. The company announced a loss of almost $650,000 in the six months to the end of September. It shares last traded at 19 cents on Nov. 19.

NZX Ltd (NZX: NZX ): The stocks exchange manager jumped 5.2% to $8.31 yesterday after announcing it would quadruple shares on issue and increase dividends by at least a cent a year. The prospect of increasing dividends is “implying they can grow their earnings,” said Paul Harrison, who oversees about $150 million at BT Funds Management.

Heritage Gold NZ Ltd (NZX: HGD ): The stock surged 18% to 4.6 cents on Friday after the miner announced it had been granted a 25-year permit to extract gold and silver from the site of the old Talisman mine near Paeroa. The company is in talks with potential Chinese investors about the project.

Methven Ltd (NZX: MVN ): The tapware manufacturer and distributor’s half year performance has proved ‘remarkably resilient’ according to Craigs Investment Partners analyst Selwyn Blinkhorne. Commenting on ShareChat he said while sales are down slightly, an aggressive cut in overheads meant profit only dropped 3.2% on sales that reduced between 20-50% in its markets. Though the company expects to lose some low margin business in Britain, this should be countered by increased sales of higher margin products such as the energy and water-saving Satinjet to hotels. Its shares lifted 2 cents to $1.68 yesterday.

Seeka Kiwifruit Industries Ltd (NZX: SEK ): The company said late yesterday that it has completed the amalgamation with Te Awanui Huka Pak Ltd. The shares last traded on Dec. 4 at $3.20.

Businesswire.co.nz

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