Shares down amid Bremworth coup; Warehouse continues to struggle

Well-established carpet maker Bremworth is at the centre of an attempted board coup and The Warehouse continues to struggle as a cautious New Zealand sharemarket posted a near 0.5% fall.

Monday, March 3rd 2025, 6:27PM

by BusinessDesk

The S&P/NZX 50 Index was weak throughout the day and closed at 12,550.05, down 51.37 points or 0.41%. The index has fallen 4.3% for the year to date.

Trading was solid, with 48.19 million shares worth $178.52m changing hands.

'Threat of looming new US tariffs'

Mark Lister, investment director with Craigs Investment Partners, said the local market was still feeling the effects of a lacklustre reporting season – with a plethora of soft results and non-committal outlook statements.

“The threat of looming new US tariffs on China, Mexico and Canada has created more caution than optimism amongst investors. With the reporting season behind us, we will be beholden to the geopolitical tension and tariff developments overseas,” he said.

Bremworth, established in 1959, was up 2c or 3.39% to 61c after receiving a notice for a special shareholders’ meeting to vote on changing the entire current board of directors.

Four shareholders with a combined stake of 11.55% have requested the meeting, saying they have been dissatisfied with the company’s financial performance and strategic positioning for many years.

Those shareholders are attempting to install a new board of chair Rob Hewett, Trevor Burt, Julie Bohnenn and Murray Dyer. Hewett is the former chair of Silver Fern Farms and was named the 2023 Deloitte Top 200 Chairperson of the Year.

The current Bremworth board said it was open to engaging with the requesting shareholders to explore options for a more constructive outcome.

If the present strategic review results in a sale of Bremworth, a buyer would most likely disestablish the current board. The review has attracted interest from a number of offshore and domestic parties.

The Warehouse fell 8c, or 8.08%, to 91c after reporting first-half sales of $1.607 billion, down 1.6% compared with the previous corresponding period. Second-quarter sales improved but were still down by 0.9%, with gross margins remaining under pressure.

Operating earnings (ebit) are expected to be $18m-$20m for the six months ending Jan 26, and The Warehouse’s best estimate for the second half is an ebit loss of about $14m, similar to the previous corresponding period.

Other stocks

Ebos Group declined $1.34 or 3.4% to $38.11; Infratil decreased 37c or 3.4% to $10.52; Millennium & Copthorne Hotels NZ was down 11c or 4.31% to $2.44; and AFT Pharmaceuticals shed 6c or 2.22% to $2.64.

Cinema software management firm Vista Group declined 9c or 2.36% to $3.72 on the day of the Oscar awards.

In the energy sector, Contact added 12c to $9.37; Mercury was up 5c to $5.97; Manawa collected 13c or 2.64% to $5.05; and Genesis gained 4c or 1.81% to $2.245.

Summerset increased 35c or 2.84% to $12.69; Fonterra Shareholders’ Fund was up 13c or 2.55% to $5.23; Pacific Edge added 0.009c or 6.62% to 14.5c; and Blackpearl Group improved 5c or 7.14% to 75c.

Auckland-based Canadian billionaire James Grenon has taken a 9.3% shareholding in NZME, unchanged at $1.15, after last week buying 8.11m shares for $9.8m.

The NZX substantial holder notice said the shares were being purchased for investment purposes, and there was no current intention to make a takeover bid.

T&G Global, up 3c or 1.88% to $1.63, reported full-year revenue of $1.36b and a net loss of $9.9m, an improvement on $46.6m in the previous year. Operating profit was $12.66m.

The exporter said there was strong demand for its Envy and Jazz apples which attracted higher prices. Apples revenue increased 5% to $859.1m, and operating profit was $43.7m, up from $10.3m in the previous.

Apples now make up 63% of the total revenue, and this year’s harvest was on track to be a high-quality crop, T&G said.

Synlait Milk increased 5c or 5.75% to 92c after appointing Richard Wyeth as the new chief executive, starting on May 19. Wyeth was formerly chief executive of Westland Milk Products and Taupo-based Miraka.

NZ King Salmon Investments was up 2c or 8.33% to 26c after securing $11.7m from the government’s Sustainable Food and Fibre Futures fund.

The funding will be used in a five-year future farming programme to grow the industry, including developing the Blue Endeavour open ocean project.

Pole monitoring firm ikeGPS rose 7c or 8.97% to 85c after securing multi-year contracts with two major United States electric utilities – one is the third largest utility in North America. The initial value of the subscription contracts is $3m.

Sky TV, up 12c or 4.76% to $2.64, will continue to broadcast Cricket Australia matches for a minimum of four years, starting from the 2025-26 season.

Tags: Market Close