Investor nerves steadied at Fletcher, Ebos AGMs

Solid outlooks from Fletcher Building and Ebos Group at their respective annual meetings helped steady New Zealand’s stock market after yesterday’s unexpectedly strong inflation data had traders pricing in more aggressive interest rate hikes.

Tuesday, October 19th 2021, 7:47PM

by BusinessDesk

The S&P/NZX 50 Index rose 67.41 points, or 0.5%, to 13,065.92, with Fletcher among the most heavily traded with $15.8 million changing hands out of the main board’s $155.6m turnover.

Fletcher shares rose 1.5% to $7.27 after hosting its annual meeting today, where the country’s biggest construction company said it’s still targeting 10% operating profit margins for the June 2023 year even after the hit from the latest lockdown.

Healthcare products firm Ebos also held its annual meeting today, where chair Liz Coutts touted another successful year to come after delivering yet another record profit and increased dividends. Its shares rose 1.4% to $34.98.

Mark Lister, head of private wealth research at Craigs Investment Partners, said the local stock market calmed down after yesterday’s unexpectedly strong inflation statistics, which resulted in traders pricing in a 50% chance of the official cash rate being hiked half a percentage point to 1% next month.

“Everyone was looking forward to Fletcher Building’s AGM, which was reasonably solid,” Lister said.

The Ebos annual meeting also provided some relief: “It’s one of those quiet achievers that does the business year in and year out,” he said.

A2 Milk led the benchmark index higher, up 3.9% at $7.23, as it continues to recover from the savaging of the past five months after missing revenue targets.

The exporter shrugged off further gains in the NZ dollar, which is on the up after yesterday’s inflation data pointed to higher interest rates earlier for the New Zealand economy.

Seafood group Sanford wasn’t so lucky, posting the day’s biggest decline on the top 50, down 1.8% at $5.

The prospect of rising rates continued to weigh on companies held for reliable dividends, such as infrastructure firms and property investors. Port of Tauranga fell 1.7% to $6.77, Trustpower declined 1.6% to $7.28 and Infratil was down 1.4% at $8.22.

Retirement village operators and developers Ryman Healthcare and Summerset were both down 0.7% at $14.70 and $14.65 respectively. Lister said share prices didn’t really react to the bipartisan housing announcement to make it easier to consent new houses.

Freightways declined 0.8% to $12.65 after the courier and information management firm agreed to buy chilled transport firm ProducePronto for up to $14m.

Outside the benchmark index, DGL Group rose 2.6% to $3.12 after buying bulk liquid freight specialist Shackell Transport for A$8.9m in cash and shares.

PGG Wrightson rose 3.5% to $4.14 after saying it had a strong start to the June 2022 financial year and expects to match last year’s operating earnings of about $53m.

Telecommunications minnow Vital sank 17.7% to 56 cents after saying it missed out on extending its government contract covering St John Ambulance radio. Chair Roger Sowry told investors at today’s annual meeting that it won’t have an immediate impact, with a new network needing to be built over several years.

Marsden Maritime Holdings was unchanged at $6.40 after saying chief executive Felix Richter will depart in January.

Tags: Market Close