NZ shares down as A2 Milk sheds $600m

Market darling turned troublemaker A2 Milk led the New Zealand share market lower as investors trimmed another $600 million from the dairy brand’s market capitalisation after its result.

Thursday, August 26th 2021, 7:01PM

by BusinessDesk

The S&P/NZX 50 Index fell 152.99 points, or 1.1%, to 13,051.62.16. Turnover was $302m.

Infant formula exporter A2 Milk today reported steep declines in annual revenue and profit, while warning it didn’t see a recovery in the immediate future.

Shares in the company dropped 11.3% to $6.34 as investors reacted to the 30% revenue decline, which put revenue at the low end of its thrice downgraded guidance, and a net profit down almost 80% at $80.7m.

A research analyst at Harbour Asset Management, Oyvinn Rimer, said it was likely the research houses would be downgrading their forecasts after this update.

Key supplier Synlait Milk also fell 6% to $3.28, dropping with its biggest customer.

Shares in Air New Zealand fell 2.3% to $1.50 after it reported it was largely $333m of government subsidies that saved it from a near $1 billion loss.

The net loss was $440m with revenue halved at $2.5b with the travel industry decimated by the pandemic. The airline declined to give earnings guidance, citing high levels of uncertainty.

Another travel-related stock, Tourism Holdings gave a similar warning telling analysts to tone down their expectations for the year ahead.

The camper van rental firm today reported a $14.5 million net loss and its chief executive said that “most analysts' forecasts” for Tourism Holdings were “too optimistic”.

Investors mostly ignored this advice and pushed the stock up 0.9% to $2.33, although it has been trading about 5% lower than before the recent lockdown began.

Comvita shares climbed 4.4% to $3.57 after the honey company reported a profit of $9.5 million in the year ended June 30.

Z Energy crept towards the Ampol takeover price, climbing 2% to $3.52 – although still below the offered $3.78.

Genesis Energy declined 0.4% to $3.38 after reporting net profit down $12m at $34m even though underlying earnings climbed $22m to $75m.

This was partly because of buying $27m worth of carbon credits and having to pay another $33m for carbon costs it was not expecting to be responsible for.

Tags: Market Close