NZ stocks: Former Fonterra boss in market for Wrightson shares again

12.00pm


A Dunedin firm half-owned by former Fonterra boss Craig Norgate is once again buying shares in rural services company Wrightson, a broker said today.

ABN Amro Craigs equity dealer Bryon Burke said Rural Portfolio Investements (RPI) -- 50 per cent owned by Mr Norgate -- was buying Wrightson shares at 145, 14c up on yesterday's closing level.

"We received an order from RPI and they are happy to disclose that they are in the market buying again to day," Mr Burke said today.

A number of Wrightson shareholders had contacted RPI wanting to sell their shares after the company last month said difficult trading conditions could affect their first-half profit, Mr Burke said.

So far today there had been $1.7 million worth of Wrightson shares traded on volume of 1.2 million.

Earlier, RPI made a play to secure a 19.9 per cent stake in Wrightson, but secured only a 7.76 per cent holding. Fonterra owns 19.9 per cent of Wrightson.

At 11.30am, the benchmark NZSX-50 was up 2.48 points at 2368.70, while the NZSX-40 capital index was up 3.53 points at 2196.94.

Market heavyweight Telecom had traded $18.6 million worth on volume of 3.6 million shares.

So far this morning on the New Zealand Exchange there had been $33.5 million worth of shares traded on volume of 10.7 million.

Among the 104 stocks traded were 25 rises and 34 falls.

Shares in insurer AMP were up 3c at 669 after its chairman, Peter Willcox, today said shareholders had overwhelmingly approved plans for a demerger.

Mr Willcox told a group of more than 200 shareholders attending an extraordinary general meeting that proxy votes in favour of the demerger totalled more than 97 per cent.

In other news, shares in forestry company Fletcher Challenge Forests (FCF) were up 1c at 133 after the High Court in Auckland said it needed shareholder approval to sell forest assets.

FCF is currently trying to sell its 106,000ha forest estate, and recently agreed to pay one bidder $8.5 million to break an exclusivity deal and open talks with a local consortium.

Meanwhile, fast food operator Restaurant Brands today said a recent upswing in KFC sales had resulted in better than expected third quarter sales of $67.6 million across the group.

The company -- the operator of Pizza Hut, Starbucks and KFC brands -- said earlier a downturn in KFC sales was likely to reduce third quarter same store sales across the group by 7.5 per cent on last year.

Restaurant Brands shares were up 4c at 111.

Shares on the rise today included: Auckland International Airport up 2c at 687, Carter Holt Harvey up 1c at 181, Freightways up 1c at 194, Michael Hill International up 13c at 483, NZX up 20c at 580, and Sky TV up 10c at 510.

Among those on the slide were: Baycorp Advantage down 1c at 299, Cavalier down 10c at 540, Ebos down 5c at 320, Fisher & Paykel Appliances down 5c at 385, F&P Healthcare down 5c at 1189, Hellaby down 5c at 498, and Sky City down 5c at 458.

Overseas, the Dow Jones was up 102.59 points to 9965.27, the Standard & Poor's 500 gained 7.78 points to 1069.28, and the Nasdaq Composite Index added 11.03 points to 1948.85.

- NZPA