Air NZ shares take flight

Air New Zealand shares flew up today after it released encouraging half-year earnings guidance in the range of $200 million to $275m.

Wednesday, September 21st 2022, 6:08PM

by BusinessDesk

This was not enough to drive the wider market with the S&P/NZX 50 Index falling 71.49 points, or 0.6%, to 11,498;95. Turnover was light again at $93.8m.

Jeremy Sullivan, an investment adviser at Hamilton Hindin Greene, said Air NZ’s guidance announcement was the “standout” news today and investors were “clearly happy with the announcement”.

“Considering the backdrop, it’s a pleasing yet cautious announcement from the company,” he told BusinesDesk.

Air NZ shares soared up as much as 9.5% in mid-afternoon trading after it released its guidance to the market earlier today. It ended the day up 7.4% to 73 cents.

The airline told the NZX that it had “strong forward sales” over the first three months of the financial year, with particularly strong sales for travel through to January 2023.

Metro Performance Glass was down 8.9% to 20.5 cents and had one of the biggest falls on the wider market.

Back in August, at the company’s annual meeting, the firm said it was planning to add another 5% price increase on its products in September, which would bring cumulative price escalations to 31% over the past 12 months.

Retailer KMD Brands was down by 1% to $1.02 after it rose yesterday on the back of its full-year results.

The retailer’s earnings were heavily impacted by lockdowns and the loss of 11,000 trading days across its Australasian stores, which caused net profit to drop by a third – but still managed to increase its dividend by 20%.

Restaurant Brands fell 2.7% to $7.95.

Late yesterday afternoon, the chief commercial officer of medicinal cannabis company Rua Bioscience stood down.

Andi Grant had held the position since June 2021 and had “substantially” progressed Rua’s global and New Zealand business goals, particularly the company’s entry into Germany, Rua Bioscience said in a statement.

The company’s shares were up 3.8% to 27.5 cents today.

Greenfern Industries, another medicinal cannabis company listed on the NZX is holding its annual meeting tomorrow. It was down 0.6% to 15.9 cents today – but on very light trading.

Fonterra Shareholders' Fund units were down 0.3% to $3.43, ahead of the dairy co-op releasing its full-year results tomorrow. The dairy co-op might update the market on its plans for both Chile and Australia.

Rumours are swirling about bidders for Fonterra’s Soprole asset in Chile which include possible interest from China, but recent protests have served as a reminder that Fonterra's Chile exit won't be easy.

A2 Milk was also down 2.1% to $6.19. However, Synlait Milk was up 0.6% to $3.57.

Prices were up again at the overnight global dairy trade auction, with prices jumping 2% across the board and whole milk powder prices up by 3.7% to US$3,733 (NZ$6,343) per tonne.

Energy company Mercury NZ has its annual meeting tomorrow morning. It was up 0.4% to $6.095 today.

On the currency front, the NZ dollar slipped even lower today, after it hit 28-month lows yesterday.

With the US Federal Reserve’s decision looming over how high the benchmark interest rate will be hiked tomorrow, the NZ dollar could go lower overnight.

At 5pm Wellington today, the NZ dollar traded at 58.90 US cents, down from 59.39 cents yesterday.

Tags: Market Close