Turners turns up the heat but NZX slides 0.4%

Another strong Turners Automotive result was not enough to keep the New Zealand sharemarket benchmark in positive territory to start the week.

Monday, May 26th 2025, 6:12PM

by BusinessDesk

Share volumes amounting to $95.5 million changed hands across the NZX on Monday as the S&P/NZX 50 fell 0.39% to 12,547.22 points.

Global markets were again kept guessing after United States President Donald Trump agreed to delay the 50% tariffs he said he would impose on the European Union two days after announcing them in the first place.

After a call with European Commissioner Ursula von der Leyen, Trump extended trade negotiations to July 9, having previously stated the levies would be applied on June 1.

US equities gained on the deadline extension, with S&P 500 futures trading up 1.07% at 5pm.

Salt Funds managing director Matt Goodson said that both the New Zealand and Australian sharemarkets “appeared to be marching to their own tune” throughout the day.

"As always with Trump, it’s an absolute moving feast,” he said.

“You’d drive yourself batty trading off Trump noise. And, you’d probably always make wrong decisions as well, because you just never know what's going to be reversed when.”

Earnings season

Kiwi Property declared net rental income rose 5% to $194.1m, reflecting the rental growth during the year.

However, the removal of building tax depreciation in 2025 and higher interest costs contributed to adjusted funds from operations (AFFO) decreasing by 7.0% to $92.8m.

Goodson pointed out that the company managed to get the first sale of its Drury land over the line.

“Given the foot traffic that will drive, that should pave the way for further sales in the future,” he said. “They didn't reveal the price, which probably wouldn't have been very sharp.”

Shares fell 2.25% to 87 cents after what Goodson called an "as you were kind of result".
Moving in the other direction was Turners Automotive, which recorded another record profit for the year to March.

“They’ve done really well against the backdrop of extremely tough economic conditions, which I think highlights that both that the used car business is far more defensive than new cars and the way they’ve used Tina [from Turners] and other strategies,” Goodson said.

The final dividend was 9 cents per share (cps), taking the full-year dividend to 29 cps, up 14%.

Mid-cap transportation technology services company, Eroad, shares rose 13.83% to $1.07. The stock is now trading flat for the year.

The Auckland-based firm reported a $1.4m net profit for the year to March, versus an $800,000 net loss in 2024. It was the first profit since it merged with rival Coretex in 2021.

Free cash flow increased to $16 million, compared to $1.3m in the previous year.

Eroad attributed this improvement to the expansion of existing customer contracts, new customer wins, price increases, and cost management.

Other news

Goodson also highlighted media speculation across the ditch that The a2 Milk Company is looking to spill some cash.

The Australian reported that a2 is positioning itself for a $350m-plus transaction, with some pointing to manufacturing assets as its likely target.

Shares rose 1.36% to $8.96 throughout the day, though Goodson did not say whether or not that could be tied to the report.

Meanwhile, small-cap company Vital went into a trading halt due to the expected release of a takeover notice to the NZX.

“They've had both Spark and Vodafone try to take them out at various times in the past and then had a bid that wasn't credible fall away a few months ago," Goodson said.

“So it'll be interesting to see what happens when they release the details on that”.

Tags: Market Close