Stocks to watch: Cavotec, Kermadec, Seeka, Tower

Thursday 26th November 2009

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

Themes of the day: Shares rose on Wall Street after stronger-than-expected consumer spending and improved jobless data stoked optimism the world’s biggest economy is recovering. Tower Ltd. posted a jump in profit, citing a better performance in all three of its business units.

Cavotec Holdings MSL (NZX: CCC ): The engineering group said the Kingdom of Bahrain had chosen the company to supply ground service equipment for remote aircraft aprons at Bahrain International Airport, a deal worth about 30 million euros. The shares were unchanged at $2.65 yesterday.

Investment Research Group (NZX: IRG ): The financial services group has set Dec. 3 as record date for its one-for-four rights issue of shares at 2.25 apiece. The shares were unchanged at 1.6 cents yesterday.

Kermadec Property Fund Ltd (NZX: KPF ): The property investor today said it has an unconditional contract to sell its office buildings Cook Street and Nelson Street for $7.68 million, less than the $9.06 million book value. Net sale proceeds will be used to repay bank debt, reducing its gearing ratio to about 37.5%. The shares fell 4 cents to 47 cents yesterday.

Life Pharmacy Ltd (NZX: LPL ): The chain of chemists that merged with rival Pharmacybrand yesterday posted a 1.9% drop in first-half profit on costs of the merger and a decline in sales. The shares last traded at 38 cents on Nov. 24.

Sanford Ltd (NZX: SAN ): The only fishing company on the NZX 50 yesterday posted a 27% decline in full-year profit, reflecting a year-earlier one-time gain from an asset sale and the impact of weakening revenue. EBITDA rose 3.8%. “In the context of the weaker market prices for many species and the high value of the New Zealand dollar, particularly in the second six months, the overall result is considered satisfactory,” managing director Eric Barratt said. The shares rose 1.1% to $4.80 yesterday.

Seeka Kiwifruit Industries Ltd (NZX: SEK ): Net profit fell 2.9% to $8.2 million in the first half, reflecting write-downs of $1.7 million associated with its investment in Vital Foods and a $400,000 reduction in the consideration from the sale of South Auckland Packing and Coolstore Ltd. The company reduced bank debt by $6.7 million. The shares rose 5 cents to $3 yesterday.

Tower Ltd (NZX: TWR ): The insurance and wealth management company posted a 24% gain in full-year profit to $50.1 million. Tower’s three businesses, Health & Life, General Insurance and Investments all reported better earnings. The company raised its final dividend to 9 cents a share from 8 cents. The shares rose 1 cent to $1.82 yesterday.

Widespread Portfolios Ltd (NZX: WID ): The mine investor posted a first-half loss from continuing ops of $187,000, down from a loss of $6.7 million a year earlier. It said the outlook “remains positive” with enough cash to “sustain operations until 2012 without raising further capital.” The company is “well overdue for good news” in respect of several investments. The shares last traded on Nov. 23 at 14.1 cents.

Businesswire.co.nz

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