Boosted by its partnership with Booking.com, Serko told the market that business travel demand is tracking strongly, with online bookings increasing 93 per cent to 4.1 million, from 2.2 million. It has $87.7m tucked away in the bank and its average monthly cash burn has fallen from $3.3m to $2.7m.
Serko confirmed its goal of reaching $100m in revenue in the 2025 financial year. Its share price is still some way off its high of $8.32 achieved on September 3, 2021.
Robertshawe said Serko had beaten its revenue and cash burn guidance and it was a positive result built on the business with Booking.com. There has been a recovery in travel around the world except for China.
The retirement village sector was strong for the second day running, despite an investigation by the Commerce Commission for any potential issues under the Fair Trading Act.
Ryman Healthcare, which reports on Friday, rose 24c or 4.44 per cent to $5.64; Summerset Group was up 14c to $8.40; Oceania Healthcare increased 4c or 5.63 per cent to 75c; and Arvida Group also gained 4c or 3.67 per cent to $1.13.
Robertshawe said the sector was coming back into favour on the back of increasing migration and talk from two banks that the fall in house prices is easing.
“You can never pick the bottom [of the housing market] but trading volumes have increased in the [retirement] sector and some investors are moving early. Fletcher Building has risen from $4.40 to $4.90 lately for the same reason.”
He said Ryman’s annual result would be closely followed in terms of its dividend guidance, development pipeline and debt ratio for the 2024 financial year after its $902m capital raise.
Port of Tauranga was up 6c to $6.45; Vulcan Steel gained 11c to $8.10; Sky City Entertainment collected 4c or 1.75 per cent to $2.32; Synlait Milk recovered 3c to $2.13; and Vista Group increased 5c or 3.73 per cent to $1.39.
Turners Automotive was up 10c or 2.84 per cent to $3.62; Bremworth increased 2c or 5.71 per cent to 37c; Michael Hill gained 2c or 1.87 per cent to $1.09; Task Group added 1.5c or 3.57 per cent to 43.5c; and Channel Infrastructure improved 3c or 2.07 per cent to $1.48.
Mainfreight was down 79c to $69.20; Ebos Group declined 16c to $43.99; Chorus decreased 9c to $8.42; Skellerup Holdings shed 6c to $4.76; and Restaurant Brands gave up 13c or 1.75 per cent to $7.30.
Seeka declined 11c or 3.99 per cent to $2.65; NZME was down 2c or 1.96 per cent to $1; and Air New Zealand decreased 1c to 76c.
Argosy Property, down 2c or 1.8 per cent to $1.09, reported net property income of $112.8m, up 7.3 per cent, and a net loss of $80.8m for the year ending March. The loss is attributed to the $146.6m devaluation of its property portfolio. As a result, net tangible assets per share fell to $1.58, from $1.74.
Argosy has a 99.3 per cent occupancy rate for its buildings and rents increased 3.6 per cent on an annual basis.
There is trading interest in SkyCity, Chorus and Precinct Properties which will be removed from the MSCI Small Cap Index at the end of the month.
Robertshawe said some pre-trading has taken place but it won’t be as dramatic as Hallenstein Glasson.
The clothing retailer rose from $5.30 to $6.91 in two weeks prior to joining the NZX top 50, and has since fallen to $5.86.
Director John McMahon has been appointed chair of NZX, replacing James Miller who served 13 years on the board. NZX’s share price was unchanged at $1.15.
Chatham Rock Phosphate, unchanged at 16c, has extended the closing date of its private placement to investors. Chatham is seeking to raise $4.62m at 15.4c per unit.
Good Spirits Hospitality, unchanged at 2.3c, has now arranged a waiver with its lender Pacific Dawn for the interest payments due for the March quarter and part of the June quarter.
