Market close: NZ sharemarket takes a late dive

Distributor of healthcare and medical products Ebos Group fell 99c or 2.33 per cent to $41.55. Photo / 123RF

The New Zealand sharemarket took a tumble in the last hour, falling near half a per cent, as the latest reporting season featuring mixed financial results came to an end.

Without strong leads from the United States and Australian markets, the S&P/NZX 50 Index was trading without direction for much of the day and reached an intraday high of 11,941.35.

But then the market suddenly dived and closed at 11,878.71, down 56.94 points or 0.48 per cent.

There were 50 gainers and 78 decliners over the whole market on volumes of 36.63 million share transactions worth $146.9m.

There was active trading in Auckland International Airport, down 7c to $8.74, and Chorus, declining 2.5c to $8.335, with $23.42m and $17.5m worth of shares respectively changing hands.

The US markets were closed on the Memorial Day public holiday, and across the Tasman the S&P/ASX 200 Index was flat, down 0.14 per cent to 7207.5 points at 6pm NZ time.

At home, Ebos Group fell 99c or 2.33 per cent to $41.55; Mercury Energy was down 11c to $6.22; Fletcher Building retreated 13c or 2.51 per cent to $5.05; Tourism Holdings declined 9c or 2.32 per cent to $3.79; and Serko decreased 7c or 2.24 per cent to $3.05.

Napier Port was down 7c or 2.71 per cent to $2.51; South Port NZ fell 40c or 5.06 per cent to $7.50; Vista Group declined 6c or 4.23 per cent to $1.36; and NZME decreased 3c or 3.09 per cent to 94c.

Other decliners were Allied Farmers decreasing 4c or 5.19 per cent to 73c; NZ Rural Land shedding 2c or 2.25 per cent to 87c; and KMD Brands down 2c or 1.8 per cent to $1.09.

Mainfreight rebounded a further $1.50 or 2.19 per cent to $70; Warehouse Group was up 4c or 2.45 per cent to $1.67; Scott Technology recovered 6c or 2.31 per cent to $2.66; and Michael Hill gained 2c or 1.96 per cent to $1.04.

The retirement village sector continued to find support, with Ryman Healthcare gaining 14c or 2.28 per cent to $6.28.

Arvida Group was up 1c to $1.14 after reporting a 10 per cent increase in annual revenue to $221.97m and record underlying profit of $88m, up 20 per cent. Its net profit fell 59 per cent to $82.46m because of the reduction in the value of its properties worth a total of $3.4 billion.

Arvida delivered 215 new units during the year, and it is paying a final dividend of 2.35c a share on June 22.

Paul Robertshawe, chief investment officer with Octagon Asset Management, said the ANZ Bank has called the bottom of the housing cycle and investors are less fearful that the retirement stocks will get hit by further property devaluations and a possible downgrade in their assets.

Ventia Services gained 5c to $2.92 after announcing its community facilities management contract with Auckland Council’s Tahi and Wha areas has been extended for two years and is worth A$140m (NZ$151m).

Green Cross Health, which owns Unichem, Life Pharmacy and The Doctors, was up 1c to $1.45 after reporting annual revenue of $493m, up 3 per cent, and net profit of $452m, up 89 per cent, that included the $21.8m gain on selling the Community Health Division. It is paying a final dividend of 3.5c a share on June 23, and its net assets per share is $1.41, up 18 per cent.

Vital Healthcare Property Trust was down 1.5c to $2.315 after providing an update for the March quarter. Net property income increased 15.3 per cent to $36.25m and it has sold Eden Private Hospital in Australia for $30.5m – part of the $200m divestment of non-core asset to fund development.

Vital Healthcare’s property income for the year to date is $108m, up 21.2 per cent, and operating profit of $53.14m, up 23.1 per cent.

Other property companies Goodman Trust was down 3c to $2.17, and Stride also declined 3c or 2.16 per cent to $1.36.

Radius Residential Care was down 1.5c or 6 per cent to 23.5c after earlier reporting a 9.7 per cent increase in annual revenue to $146.26m and a net loss of $2.1m, after striking a $2.7m profit in the previous year. It had operating earnings (ebitda) of $14.2m, up from $10.7m

Radius has total assets of $356.6m with 24 facilities, 13 owned and 11 leased, and 1889 beds, an increase of 105 during the year. Its occupancy is 93.3 per cent.

Newly-merged Task Group was down 2c or 3.39 per cent to 57c after reporting a 99 per cent rise in revenue to $64.9m and turnaround in net profit of $400,000, from a loss of $24.3m, in the 12 months ending March.

Task is buying back unmarketable parcels of shares worth less than A$500 (NZ$540) from shareholders, and is planning to delist from NZX at some stage, while still maintaining its primary listing on the ASX.

Transport and logistics software company TradeWindow, which has 475 customers, was down 1.5c or 4 per cent to 36c after reporting a 27 per cent increase in trading revenue to $4.9m and a net loss of $9.8m for the year ending March. Revenue guidance for the 2024 financial year is $7m-$8m.