Ryman extends rally to help NZX 50 continue gains

A Ryman Healthcare rally has helped New Zealand’s blue-chip index keep the good times rolling.

Thursday, October 2nd 2025, 6:17PM

by BusinessDesk

The benchmark S&P/NZX 50 closed up 0.13% at 13,451.76 on Thursday, with 40.7 million shares changing hands worth $124.7m.

Having traded flat until Sept 26, the index is now up nearly 3% for the year.

Director of institutional equities at Forsyth Barr Peter Sigley said that the lacklustre performance of larger index constituents has meant the market has overlooked the achievements of some smaller firms on the exchange in recent times.

He highlighted Scales Corporation, which dipped 1.55% to $5.70 on Thursday but is up over 42% year-to-date, as an example.

“There’s been good underlying guts to the market for a while, and now that some of the leading stocks have started to bounce a bit, it’s becoming evident in the headline performance.”

Naomi James duo

One of those stocks is Ryman, which backed up from a strong Wednesday session, rising 2.69% to $2.67 on turnover worth $2.8m.

Sigley said the stock's performance has been helped by listing on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) on Wednesday.

He noted that some Australian investment funds have mandates that prohibit the purchase of NZ-only stocks.

“By opening that up, they’ve opened up a whole range of additional investors, and obviously somebody out there has taken a bit of a shine to it,” he said.

Channel Infrastructure, which incidentally was formerly run by Ryman’s chief executive, Naomi James, likewise had a strong day. The Marsden Point owner lifted sharply at 3pm, ending up 1.88% to $2.71.

Sigley said news that global oil giants were rationalising their assets was giving some investors the idea that Channel would have some favourable acquisition opportunities in the near future.

“Somebody’s joined the dots,” he said, adding that the Wiri Tank Farm in Auckland is something investors will be hoping Channel can get its hands on.
“That’s something that channel has talked about in the past, has been sort of a perfect fit for their business, and something that they’ve got a real core competency in operating.”

Losing out today was Mainfreight, which Sigley said was having difficulties due to its unfortunate exposure to disruptions in global trade flows and the United States. It cut back 2.12% to finish the day at $61.99.

Bremworth

Bremworth became the latest listed company to announce its likely departure from the exchange. Earlier in the day, it announced that it had struck a deal for the owner of its rival, Godfrey Hirst, to acquire it.

The carpet and rug manufacturer has entered into a scheme implementation agreement with Mohawk Industries, through its premium hard flooring business, Floorscape.

Under the deal, shareholders could receive between $1.05 and $1.15 per share, subject to market conditions and business performance.

Having closed at 62 cents on Wednesday, they soared promptly after the announcement to close out the session at 88 cents.

The Warehouse Group's shares had dipped 2.5% but climbed in the last hour of trading to close the day flat at 80 cents.

It posted earnings before interest and taxes (ebit), or operating earnings, of $1.3m. That was down sharply from $28.9m a year earlier but within the guidance range it gave in July of a loss or gain of up to $5m.

The retailer said sales and gross profit for the first seven weeks of fiscal 2026 were tracking at similar levels to last year.

Tags: Market Close