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.
« Kiwi dollar up as RBNZ signals rate hikes | Vista helps NZX50 end week up 1.3% » |
Special Offers
Comments from our readers
No comments yet
Sign In to add your comment
Printable version | Email to a friend |