NZ sharemarket down 1.9% for the week

Synlait Milk can look forward to a brighter future, Spark hit a nine-year low and the New Zealand sharemarket posted its third successive fall.

Wednesday, September 18th 2024, 6:22PM

by BusinessDesk

After Wall Street was flat, the S&P/NZX 50 Index fell at the opening and traded moderately to close at 12,586.98, down 84.97 points or 0.67%.

The index has lost 1.9% this week after starting 9% ahead for the year to date. There were 57 gainers and 77 decliners on the main board, with 40.09 million shares worth $134.82m changing hands.

Synlait Milk was down 2c or 4.44% to 43c after shareholders approved three resolutions concerning a $217.8m equity raise at the special meeting.

Bright Dairy is contributing $185m and increasing its Synlait stake to a controlling interest of 65.25%, and a2 Milk, down 12c or 2.06% to $5.71, added another $32.8m to maintain its 19.8% shareholding.

Minority investors’ overall stake in the company will reduce from 41.2% to 14.9%. The capital raising, settlement with a2 Milk and bank refinancing must all be concluded at the same time on Oct 1.

Synlait chair George Adams said this is a watershed vote for Synlait. “Shareholders have given us the opportunity to create a positive future for the company, its investors, farmer suppliers, customers, suppliers and for our 1,400 employees.”

Foreign markets

Jeremy Sullivan, investment adviser with Hamilton Hindin Greene, said the markets were looking forward to the expected interest rate cut by the Federal Reserve and whether it will be 25 or 50 basis points.

“The markets have already priced in a cut, and the Fed’s commentary and medium-term direction will be closely followed. Still, it will be the largest interest rate pivot since the covid pandemic and even going back to the global financial crisis,” Sullivan said.

It will be the Fed’s first cut in more than four years after its cash rate reached a two-decade high of 5.25-5.5%.

Across the Tasman, the S&P/ASX 200 Index hit an intraday high of 8,154 points, but at 6pm NZ time, it had eased 0.08% to 8,134.7.

Local market

At home, telco Spark declined 8.5c or 2.53% to $3.275 on trade worth $26.24m – a level last seen in October 2015. Sullivan said investors are worried Spark might reduce its dividend (currently at 13%).

“Spark is in a dividend trap – the pay-out is higher than its free cash flow, and it has had an earnings downgrade on a downgrade.”

Turners Automotive increased 17c or 4% to $4.42 after telling shareholders at the annual meeting that it would exceed the $50m gross profit goal at the end of the 2025 financial year – and it was updating the 2028 profit to $65m.

Regardless of the economy, patchy customer demand and very challenging interest rates, Turners said the business has continued to grow, with three out of four divisions materially ahead of the previous year.

Turners bought 50% of vehicle repair business My Auto Shop to fill a gap in its offering, and made a $1m investment in online insurance platform Quashed.

Fonterra Shareholders’ Fund was up 10c or 2.17% to $4.70 after a positive global dairy trade auction with the index increasing 0.8% across the board following the previous 0.4% drop.

Whole milk powder rose 1.5% to an average of US$3,448 (NZ$5,557.68) a metric tonne, and skim milk powder was up 2.2% to an average of US$2,809MT.

Fisher and Paykel Healthcare was down 33c to $37.70; Ryman Healthcare declined 15c or 3.26% to $4.45; Vector decreased 12c or 3.14% to $3.70; Michael Hill shed 3c or 5.45% to 52c; PGG Wrightson was down 6c or 3.11% to $1.87; and Restaurant Brands fell 25c or 6.35% to $3.69.

In the property sector, Kiwi declined 3c or 3.16% to 92c; Stride was down 4c or 2.86% to $1.36; and Goodman Trust was up 4.5c or 2.13% to $2.155.

Pacific Edge gained a further 0.003c or 2% to 15.3c but was struck by profit-taking in the afternoon after reaching an intraday high of 18.5c. The cancer diagnostic company earlier told the market it was very hopeful its Cxbladder test will be included in the American Urological Association’s standard of care guidelines.

Auckland International Airport was up 5c to $7.45 following its $1.2 billion capital raising; Ebos Group added 35c to $36.55; Sky TV increased 5c or 1.92% to $2.65; Smartpay collected 5c or 4.76% to $1.10; 2 Cheap Cars rose 3c or 4.23% to 74c; and Scales Corp was up 9c or 2.57% to $3.59.

Software-as-a-service payroll firm PaySauce gained 0.005c or 2.27% to $2.25 on senior management changes. Co-founder and chief technology officer Troy Tarrant and chief operating officer Mathew Stokes are retiring at the end of the month, being replaced by Jacques Labuschagne and Jess McLean.

Tags: Market Close