Telco boss unexpectedly hangs up and market falls
The S&P/NZX 50 Index fell 19.09 points, or 0.2 percent, to 9,9939.26, snapping a six-day gain. Within the index, 24 stocks declined, 20 gained, and six were unchanged. Turnover was $193.5 million.
Spark declined 3.3 percent to $3.65 on an average volume of 5.5 million after Moutter announced his departure at the end of June, with customer director and former finance chief Jolie Hodson to take over the reins. Fat Prophets lowered its rating on Spark to 'sell' from 'buy', saying Moutter's departure was a surprise and that the timing felt a year or so early.
Rickey Ward, NZ equities manager at JBWere, said there had been some speculation last year that Moutter was going to leave given how long he'd been at Spark, but that was quickly shot down.
"The real surprise part is 'why 1 July?', and not 'why?'," Ward said. "He's well-respected by many, many investors. The share price fall today is purely on the back of his resignation."
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