Eroad shares surge as it joins NZX 50

Fleet management company Eroad shares jumped 8% as it was added to New Zealand’s benchmark index after growing its market valuation by $165 million in the past year.

Friday, December 17th 2021, 9:52PM

by BusinessDesk

The S&P/NZX 50 Index fell 59.6 points, or 0.5%, to 12,717.94.

Turnover was $355 m in an extended session for the quarterly rebalance of the S&P/NZX and FTSE Russell Indices.

The big change in the rebalance was Eroad replacing Napier Port in the top 50 stocks, having met the market capitalisation requirement of $475m.

Eroad’s share price peaked at $6.70 in July and – while it has since retreated – is still up 70% since the pandemic hit in February 2020. It was valued at $579m at market close today.

Shares in the technology stock climbed 8.2% to $5.52 today as passive funds bought the stock in time for its official inclusion in the index from Monday morning.

Forsyth Barr estimated passive demand for Eroad would be approximately 1.5m shares, while the same funds would have to sell 1.7m shares in Napier Port.

Internet infrastructure company, Chorus rose 3.6% to $7.18 after the Commerce Commission announced its final decision on the maximum allowable revenue the company can earn from fibre.

Forsyth Barr analyst Matt Henry said the final decision was similar to the draft but “delivered a modest uplift” – he downgraded the stock to neutral.

“The stock has performed strongly in recent months defying the broader trend of higher interest rates weighing on defensive yield stocks and we see value as broadly fair,” he said.

Rua Biosciences climbed 14.3% to a seven-month high of 44 cents after the medicinal cannabis company was cleared to distribute its cannabinoid oil locally under the Medicinal Cannabis Agency’s quality standards. Rivals Cannasouth was up 2.7% at 37.5 cents and Greenfern Industries was unchanged at 24 cents.

Infratil edged up 0.4% to $7.90 after the infrastructure investment firm expanded its reach in local radiology, taking a 50.8% stake in Bay Radiology for $32.5m

Fletcher Building rose 0.7% to $7.25 after the Commerce Commission said it will exclude plumbers and electricians from its investigation into the building sector next year. Fletcher is a major player in NZ’s plumbing sector, owning Mico NZ.
Winton Land had a subdued debut on the NZX, falling 0.4% to $3.87 after selling shares at $3.89 in an initial public offering to raise $350m. Macquarie Asset Management took up $200m of the offering, which wasn’t open to the public. Stock exchange operator NZX was unchanged at $1.79.

Local software companies followed Australia’s Afterpay and Zip lower as investors digested the impact of US regulator’s questions for buy now, pay later stocks. Pushpay dropped 4.6% to $1.25 and Vista Group was down 3.6% at $2.17. Local fintech Harmoney fell 1.6% to $1.90.

Serko declined 2.6% to $6.66 after its retail offering to existing shareholders closed, raising $8.3m at $6.85 a share.

NZME was unchanged at $1.45 after saying it will start its $30m share buyback in February.

The NZ dollar was trading at 67.98 US cents at 3pm in Wellington, up from 67.75 cents yesterday.

Tags: Market Close