Stocks to watch: Infratil's outlook, NZOG, Pike River progress

Tuesday 19th May 2009

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

Themes of the day: Wall Street rebounded from the worst week since March on better earnings from retailer Lowe’s Cos. and rating upgrades at Bank of America. Crude oil jumped more than 5% and the kiwi dollar climbed to 59.50 US cents. In Australia, Reserve Bank Governor Glenn Stevens is scheduled to give a speech this morning while the RBA releases the notes of its last policy meeting this afternoon.

Contact Energy (CEN): The utility is seeking a one-year delay in the hearing into its proposed $1 billion wind farm in the Waikato. The shares rose 1 cent to $6 and have declined 18% so far this year.

Infratil (IFT): The energy and infrastructure investor fell 4% to $1.63 yesterday, after posting a net loss of $191 million. The loss reflected writedowns of listed investments and earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, amortization and revaluations rose 13%. Earnings on the same basis may gain12% this year.

New Zealand Oil & Gas (NZO): Crude oil climbed above US$59 a barrel after threats by a Nigerian separatist group to block oil exports and as a fire at a Sunoco refinery in the US Northeast disrupted production. Crude oil for June delivery jumped 4.9% to US$59.10 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The shares fell 3 cents to $1.44 yesterday.

NZX (NZX): The stock exchange operator plans to establish a trans-Tasman small cap market via its acquisition of 50.1% of NSX, according to its prospectus to raise $20.55 million in a one-for-five rights issue. The shares were unchanged at $8.25 yesterday and has surged 52% this year.

Pike River Coal (PRC): The coal miner yesterday said it had put its first heavy coal cutting machine back into action after completing a temporary ventilation hole while the main vent is restored following a cave-in. As of yesterday, the Alimak raise – an angled bypass to the main damaged shaft – was 58% complete, the company said. CEO Gordon Ward said he expected to have all three mining machines cutting coal by early June. Pike was unchanged at $1.03 yesterday and has gained 19% this year.

Smiths City Group (SCY): The Christchurch-based department store operator said sales in the six months to April fell 5.7% to $113million, while same-store sales fell 4.5%. The retailer said sales grew at the expense of margin in a “highly competitive market” and full-year profit would be “substantially down” on last year. The stock was unchanged at 35 cents yesterday and has gained 13% in the past month.

Businesswire.co.nz

Comments from our readers

No comments yet