NZ sharemarket drifts as takeover bid rejected
The New Zealand sharemarket drifted sideways in a quiet day’s trading, while small-cap stock Metro Performance Glass rejected a takeover bid by two prominent businessmen.
Tuesday, July 18th 2023, 6:27PM
by BusinessDesk
The S&P/NZX 50 Index lacked conviction and closed at 11,932.81, down 6.1 points or 0.05% after reaching an intraday high of 11,944.35.
There were 71 gainers and 58 decliners over the whole market on light volumes of 23.13 million share transactions worth $88.09m.
Ryman Healthcare, down 1c to $6.94, dominated the trading with $14.38m worth of its shares changing hands.
Matt Goodson, managing director of Salt Funds Management, said the market had a weaker lead from Australia, which was down half a percent at one point.
“I think our market is waiting for the earnings season next month,” he said.
The S&P/ASX 200 Index was down 0.25% to 7280.1 points at 6pm NZ time.
In the United States, the Dow Jones Industrial Average had its sixth straight day of rises and closed overnight at its highest level since the end of November last year after gaining 0.22% to 34,585.35 points.
The technology-driven Nasdaq Composite has now climbed 36% this year after gaining a further 0.93% to 14,244.95 points.
At home, Metro Performance Glass increased 3.2c or 20.38% to 18.9c after announcing an offer by Takutai and Masfen Securities significantly undervalued the company and it was not in its best interests to progress the proposal.
Metro, with a market capitalisation of $34.29m, has fallen from 46c since mid-August 2021.
Takutai, controlled by Vulcan Steel founder Peter Wells, combined with Peter Masfen's family company to increase their shareholding in Metro to 25.12% and offer to buy all the remaining shares at 18c a share.
Metro, the leading glass supplier and manufacturer in New Zealand, said it continues to progress with the sale of Australian Glass Group.
Processor and distributor Steel & Tube gained 4c or 3.54% to $1.17 after slightly upgrading its June year operating earnings (Ebitda) guidance to $52m-$53m from $48m-$52m. It had earlier downgraded its forecast and said second-half volumes were expected to be 10-15% lower than the first half.
Carbon Fund continued to climb, rising 7c or 4.43% to $1.65 as the government reviewed its price settings for the emissions trading scheme following last week’s high court ruling. Since then, the secondary market carbon price has risen 35% from $37 a tonne to $50.
Fisher and Paykel Healthcare was down 38c to $24.20; a2 Milk declined 8c to $5.50; Summerset Group shed 13c to $10.37; and SkyCity decreased 5c or 2.13% to $2.30.
Fletcher Building gained 7c to $5.54; Port of Tauranga was up 8c to $6.28; and leading banks ANZ and Westpac increased 71c or 2.71% to $26.95 and 25c to $23.45, respectively.
Energy stocks mixed
Meridian Energy, up 6c to $5.46, reported a 0.3% fall in sales volumes for June compared with the same month last year, while fourth-quarter sales were down 0.6% at a 10.8% higher average price. Customer numbers declined by 0.6%.
In the month to July 12, national hydro storage decreased from 143% to 121% of the historical average. Meridian’s provisional full-year operating costs were $249m, $2m or 0.8% above the top of the guidance range, and capital expenditure was $346m, near the lower end of the range.
Fellow energy stocks Contact gained 15c or 1.87% to $8.18; Vector collected 4c to $4.02; Mercury was down 7c to $6.33; and Manawa decreased 5c to $4.74.
Other decliners were Accordant Group down 5c or 3.62% to $1.33; Radius Residential Care decreasing 1.5c or 6.22% to 21.5c; Restaurant Brands shedding 10c to $6.35; and NZME, down 2c or 2.13% to 92c.
Rakon decreased 4c or 4.65% to 82c; Smartpay Holdings was down 3.5c or 1.84% to $1.865; and Green Cross Health declined 4c or 2.9% to $1.34.
Retailers Hallenstein Glasson increased 15c or 2.46% to $6.25; Briscoe Group was up 5c to $4.17; and The Warehouse was down 3c to $1.60.
Other gainers were Sky TV adding 7c or 2.98% to $2.42; Colonial Motor Company up 18c or 1.99% to $9.23; Paysauce increasing 2c or 8.51% to 25.5c; Investore collecting 3c or 2.13% to $1.44; and NZ Rural Land up 3c or 3.37% to 92c.
Pacific Edge, gaining 0.001c to 20c, reported in its shareholder update that Cxbladder test volumes reached a record 9706 in the first quarter of the new financial year, 9% more than the further quarter of the 2023 financial year. The volumes were also 38% up on the first quarter of last year.
United States volumes led the growth, rising 10% to 8627 in the first quarter. The number of ordering clinicians increased to 1232, representing more than 10% of the practising urologists in the US.
Contractor Novitas is reviewing Pacific Edge’s continued Medicare funding in the US.
| « NZ sharemarket starts week with a dip on interest rate concerns | NZX50 rises on light volumes as inflation data is released » |
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