Mainfreight was among the decliners today, falling 41c to $68.
The weight of expectation pushed Fisher & Paykel Healthcare down more than 6 per cent on the New Zealand sharemarket, which finished the week with a sharp 1 per cent fall.
In emulation of the market-leading healthcare firm, the S&P/NZX 50 Index was down 129.82 points or 1.09 per cent to 11,830.03 and fell 2.5 per cent for the week.
The index is still ahead 3 per cent so far this year and up about 6.5 per cent over the past 12 months.
There were 52 gainers and 74 decliners on the main board, with 32.94 million shares worth $159.17 million changing hands.
Respiratory devices manufacturer Fisher & Paykel Healthcare has been a Covid pandemic beneficiary with strong growth, but as the situation normalises and the company’s earnings slow it has been trimmed on the sharemarket, just like Mainfreight the day before.
Fisher & Paykel fell $1.67 or 6.51 per cent to a five-month low of $23.98 on trade worth $37.03m after reporting a 6 per cent decline in revenue to $1.58 billion and 34 per cent drop in net profit to $250.3m for the year ending March. It is paying a final dividend of 23c a share on July 7.
The company told the market that its people, suppliers and customers worked tirelessly to meet global demand surges during three financial years impacted by the Covid pandemic.
The second-half result was encouraging – operating revenue grew 14 per cent to $890.5m – as markets progressed towards more of a normal state. Full-year hospital product revenue was down 15 per cent to $1.02b and homecare was 18 per cent higher than the previous year with a record $553.8m.
Fisher & Paykel forecast operating revenue of $1.7b for the 2024 financial year.
Shane Solly, portfolio manager for Harbour Asset Management, said Fisher & Paykel’s cautious outlook disappointed the market, as did the gross margin improvement forecast of 2 per cent, down from an expected 3 per cent.
“Fisher & Paykel’s result was okay but it is a highly-priced stock and it needs to have the earnings engine behind it. This time it was not quite enough.”
Mainfreight was down 41c to $68; Chorus declined 10.5c to $8.23; Mercury Energy decreased 8.5c to $6.30; a2 Milk shed 7c to $5.73; and Ebos Group was down 70c to $42.48.
Other decliners were Channel Infrastructure down 4c or 2.68 per cent to $1.45; Michael Hill decreasing 3c or 2.83 per cent to $1.03; Sanford shedding 9c or 2.12 per cent to $4.15; Solution Dynamics falling 10c or 4.26 per cent to $2.25; and Savor down 2c or 5.13 per cent to 37c.
Stride Property gained 4c or 3.05 per cent to $1.35 after reporting a better-than-expected distributable profit of $57.6m for the 12 months ending March, compared with $54.2m the previous year. Net rental income was $71.1m, up from $65.8m.
Stride had a net loss of $116.74 mainly because of a $118.5m reduction in the value of its portfolio. It is forecasting a combined cash dividend of 8c a share for the 2024 financial year, similar to the present year. Investore Property, managed by Stride, was down 3c or 2.08 per cent to $1.41.
NZ Rural Land increased 3c or 3.53 per cent to 88c after telling the market it is suspending its dividend payment and instead is buying back shares on-market because the company considers its share price undervalues its assets and cash flow.
NZ Rural, which recently bought two forestry estates for $70.2m, upgraded its adjusted funds from operations (AFFO) guidance to $8m-$8.5 or 5.25-5.75c a share, up from 5-5.5c, for the 2024 financial year. This year’s AFFO guidance remains at $6m-$6.5m.
Infratil hit $10 with a gain of 12c; Synlait Milk increased 4c or 2.63 per cent to $1.56; Seeka collected 5c or 1.79 per cent to $2.84; Gentrack added 9c or 2.14 per cent to $4.30; and Sky TV was up 5c or 1.97 per cent to $2.59.
Eroad improved 3c or 5.26 per cent to 60c; ikeGPS gained 2c or 2.67 per cent to 77c and Greenfern Industries was up 0.009c or 17.31 per cent to 6.1c.
Tower, down 0.005c to 60c, had earlier reported a net loss of $5.1m for the six months ending March, compared with a $3m profit in the previous corresponding period. Insurance claims rose three and a half times because of the recent flooding and cyclone.
Gross written premiums increased 15 per cent in the half year to $245m, and Tower expects full-year growth of 15-20 per cent.
Software firm TradeWindow, up 0.005c to 36.5c, has formed a partnership with Export Council Australia to accelerate the adoption of digital solutions for trade.
The latest ANZ NZ Roy Morgan survey showed consumer confidence in May was flat and the proportion of people who believed it was a good time to buy a major household item fell 3 points to minus 34. Inflation expectations eased from 5.2 per cent to 4.8 per cent – the second time since mid-2021 they have dipped under 5 per cent.