Stocks to watch: Allied, AMP Office, Auckland Airport, THL

Friday 18th 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: Shares weakened on Wall Street and in Europe as investors eschewed riskier assets, strengthening the greenback against most other currencies. Further rattling investors, Standard & Poor’s lowered Greece’s credit rating for the second time this year.

Allied Farmers Ltd (NZX: ALF ): Shares in the rural services and finance company slumped to a record low 15 cents yesterday after the stock resumed trading on the NZX having secured the right to buy Hanover Finance’s loan book in an all-stock deal worth some $400 million. Hanover debenture and note holders will be issued about 1.9 billion shares in exchange for the loans held by the company, and analysts expect the market will be flooded by investors wanting to cash up and exit the company.

AMP NZ Office Trust (NZX: APT ): The commercial landlord wiped another $60 million from its property portfolio after its latest valuation, though chief executive Rob Lang doesn’t expect any further declines. The fall won’t impact on the trust’s distributions to unit holders, which are on track to increase a gross 2% this year. The shares edged down 1 cent to 75 cents in trading yesterday.

Auckland International Airport (NZX: AIA ): The airport was raised to ‘outperform’ from ‘market perform’ by ASB Securities analyst Florian Burch, according to the ShareChat website. Burch raised his forecast for 2010 profit to $99.8 million from $95.1 million. The shares rose 1 cent to %1.89 yesterday.

CER Group (NZX: CER ): The company said it has agreed to extend the finance condition of its negotiations to sell its NZ Nature business until Dec. 24, giving the prospective purchaser more time to conclude the deal. The shares last traded on Dec. 16 at 1.1 cents and have declined 55% this year.

PGG Wrightson (NZX: PGW ): Chief executive Tim Miles told the Press that the rural services company plans to repay a further $77 million in bank debt early, on top of $200 million already announced. “If there were to be any changes, you'd think they'd be to our advantage," he said. A $200 million amortising term facility due by March 31 will be paid before the end of 2009, he said. The shares rose 1 cent to 65 cents yesterday.

Tourism Holdings Ltd (NZX: THL ): The campervan operator that was dropped from the NZX 50 this year said it was “in compliance” with continuous disclosure rules after the bourse regulator queried a 17.6% gain in its share price since Dec. 1. The shares climbed 8.1% to 80 cents on the NZX yesterday, and have gained 12 cents since the start of the month.

Businesswire.co.nz

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