Ryman up 11% in two days

The New Zealand sharemarket had a rocky session before finishing with a small loss, and leading retirement village operator Ryman Healthcare continued to move off a 13-year low.

Thursday, March 27th 2025, 6:28PM

by BusinessDesk

The S&P/NZX 50 Index was up and down all day, trading between 12,296.39 and 12,359.05 before closing at 12,305.79 – down 28.39 points or 0.23%.

Volumes were lighter, with 27.6 million shares worth $103.98m changing hands.

Ryman and the US

Paul Robertshawe, chief investment officer for Octagon Asset Management, said the local market has corrected a long way from the reporting season and is poised for a sustainable recovery.

“Whether it will happen before or after June, we will see. We may have to wait another three months to find out how much money the Government is putting into the economy and what big infrastructure projects get started,” he said.

Ryman Healthcare increased 14c or 5.26% to $2.80 and has now risen more than 11% in two trading days – after reaching its previous low of February 2012.

Ryman told the market it has finalised repayment arrangements with lenders following its $1 billion capital raise. One of the repayments is the $275m institutional term loan established in 2021.

In the United States, markets were softer on further uncertainty about the upcoming tariffs.

President Donald Trump announced a 25% tariff on all cars not made in the US but he has indicated there will be some flexibility on the sweeping tariffs due to come into effect on April 2 – dubbed by Trump as “Liberation Day.”

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.31% to 42,454.79 points, the S&P 500 declined 1.12% to 5,712.2, and the Nasdaq Composite fell 2.04% to 17,899.02. Nvidia was down 5.74% to US$113.76 (NZ$198.12), and Tesla declined 5.58% to US$272.06.

The European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association revealed that Tesla had a 40% year-on-year drop in new vehicle registrations in Europe in February, while overall battery electric vehicle sales were up 26%.

Other stocks

Back home, Meridian Energy gained a further 18c or 3.27% to $5.68; Restaurant Brands increased 13c or 3.64% to $3.70; Synlait Milk collected 3c or 4.05% to 77c; Vulcan Steel added 20c or 2.26% to $9.05; and Vista Group was up 10c or 2.7% to $3.80.

In the property sector, Investore increased 4c or 3.81% to $1.09; Stride gained 2c or 1.74% to $1.17; and Vital Healthcare Trust was down 4.5c or 2.56% to %1.71.

Other gainers were Blackpearl Group, up 2c or 2.5% to 82c; Millennium & Copthorne Hotels NZ, adding 4c or 1.77% to $2.30; Radius Residential Care, rising 1.5c or 6.98% to 23c; and TradeWindow, improving 1c or 5.85% to 18.1c.

New Talisman Gold Mines continued its climb, increasing 1.6c or 22.86% to 8.6c after sitting at 2.2c on Jan 21.

Contact Energy, up 2c to $8.64, is appealing the Environmental Protection Authority’s expert consenting panel decision to decline a consent for the Southland Wind Farm. Contact will also re-apply under the new Fast-Track consenting process.

Contact said the wind farm will create up to 240 jobs during construction and add $230m-$280m to the NZ economy.

Global marketer a2 Milk was down 8c to $8.73 after reaching an intraday low of $8.58.

Robertshawe said an a2 Milk competitor, China Feihe, which has 20% of the Chinese infant formula market, has introduced sales incentives with large cash payments for families having babies.

“It looks like a customer acquisition strategy, and it will be interesting to see how this plays out,” he said. “If the market gets bigger or a2 Milk starts losing market share, then they will have to compete by offering more sales incentives or spending more on promotions.”

Fisher and Paykel Healthcare was down 43c to $34.17; Infratil declined 27c or 2.5% to $10.53; Ebos Group decreased 40c to $37.40; and Mainfreight shed $1.54 or 2.34% to $64.25.

PGG Wrightson shed 5c or 2.86% to $1.70; ikeGPS was down 2c or 2.5% to 78c, and Enprise Group was down 3c or 3.7% to 78c.

NZ King Salmon Investments was unchanged at 22.5c after reporting a 13% increase in revenue to $210.99m and a 53% fall in net profit to $13.6m for the year ending January.

Operating earnings (ebitda) were $29.7m compared with $24.5m in the previous year, and NZ King’s ebitda guidance for the 2026 financial year is $15-$24m.

NZ King said it has had elevated mortality amongst the fish at the start of the new financial year, following two summers of low mortality, and will reduce the harvest and earnings. But consumer demand for King salmon remains high with growth opportunities in North America, China and Australia.

The Blue Endeavour ocean farm will become operational this financial year, though on a pilot scale, and fish will be transferred to the site in October.

Tags: Market Close