NZX CLOSE: NZX 50 closes at 11-month high; Restaurant Brands surges

Friday 18th September 2009

(BusinessWire) – New Zealand’s NZX 50 Index closed at an 11-month high, led by Restaurant Brands NZ Ltd., after the fast-food restaurant operator forecast an 87% jump in first-half earnings, adding to optimism the economy is climbing out of recession.

The NZX 50 rose 3.66, or 0.1%, to 3156.46, the third daily gain to the highest since October 2008. Within the index, 25 stocks rose, 17 fell and eight were unchanged. Turnover was a bigger-than-average $121.8 million.

Restaurant Brands (NZX: RBD ) jumped 16% after forecasting first-half earning, excluding non-trading items, of about $8.7 million, reflecting a turnaround at its Pizza Hut franchise and sustained sales growth for the KFC chicken outlets.

Tower Ltd (NZX: TWR ), the insurance and funds management business, gained 6.6% to $1.78 as investors anticipate the company’s $81 million renounceable rights issue, which is underwritten by Goldman Sachs JBWere. Guinness Peat Group, the biggest shareholder with about 35%, has said it intends to take up its entitlement.Shares of GPG climbed about 6% to 89 cents.

APN News & Media (NZX: APN ), the publisher of the New Zealand herald, rose 3.8% to $2.49. Property for Industry (NZX: PFI ) climbed 3.6% to $1.15.

Fisher & Paykel Healthcare (NZX: FPH ), the respirator manufacturer that gets almost 80% of sales in U.S. dollars, slipped 0.3% to $3.21 as the New Zealand dollar held at about 71 U.S. cents. The kiwi rose above 71.50 cents to the 13-month high this week.

Goodman Property Trust (NZX: GMT ) rose 1% to $1 after its manager, Goodman (NZ), said Ingram Micro has committed to a new development at its M20 Business Park in Wiri, Auckland. Ingram will take warehouse and office facility totalling 10,355 sqm, in the third design build project at the park, it said. The development has a project cost of $12.7 million, providing an initial yield of 9%, it said.

Pike River Coal (NZX: PRC ) climbed 2% to $1, its second daily gain of that order after BHP Billiton, the world’s biggest mining company, said it expects the surge in demand for coking coal in China to be sustainable, boding well for global prices including the premium coking coal Pike will produce from its South Island mine.

Businesswire.co.nz

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