NZ shares gain as Scales bounces back from Cyclone Gabrielle - Market close

Scales Corp shares rose 4.4% to $3.59 after its first-half result showed the apple exporter had bounced back from last year’s Cyclone Gabrielle. Photo / NZME

New Zealand shares rose, paced by Scales Corp after the apple exporter’s earnings bounced back from Cyclone Gabrielle in what’s been a generally soft earnings season.

The S&P/NZX 50 Index increased 19.49 points, or 0.2%, to 12,470.60. Across the main board, 62 stocks rose, 70 fell and 47 were unchanged. Turnover was $137.2 million, with 10 stocks trading on volumes of more than a million.

Earnings reported today were generally upbeat in what’s been a mixed period, with many companies contending with the tight recessionary conditions.

“People, including myself, were expecting it to be pretty weak and we’ve seen mixed results at best,” said Jeremy Sullivan, an investment adviser at Hamilton Hindin Greene. “Interest rate cuts will take a while to flow through to the economy. There’s still plenty of value in our market.”

Scales posted a more normal first-half result as it bounced back from last year’s cyclone, almost doubling underlying profit and reaffirming its annual forecast. The shares rose 4.4% to $3.59.

Rival fruit exporter T&G Global increased 3.1% to $1.69.

Meridian Energy slipped 0.3% to $6.13 on a volume of 1.7m after reporting a 16% increase in annual earnings and raising its dividend, while warning the current financial year looked more challenging given the historically low hydro catchments.

Among other energy companies, Mercury NZ rose 0.8% to $6.53, Contact Energy declined 0.7% to $8.42 and Genesis Energy slipped 0.7% to $2.43.

Meanwhile, Precinct Properties NZ was unchanged at $1.31 on a volume of 15m after reporting a 2.9% increase in funds from operations, and a slower pace of devaluations to its $3.3 billion property portfolio.

Sullivan said the Precinct result was solid and as interest rates come down, the fair value adjustments would turn in the firm’s favour.

Goodman Property Trust rose 0.2% to $2.105, Kiwi Property Group advanced 1% to 98c on a volume of 3.4m and Stride Property gained 0.7% to $1.43 after declaring a first-quarter dividend of 1.56 cents per share.

Fisher & Paykel Healthcare rose 2% to $35.91 after holding its annual meeting in Auckland. The medical devices company last week raised its annual earnings outlook.

NZX led the benchmark index higher as the stock market operator rose 6.4% to $1.34, while Tourism Holdings gained 4.6% to $2.07, with both clawing back some of Tuesday’s decline.

Outside the benchmark index, Rakon climbed 6.7% to 80c after outlining its growth aspirations in the space and AI industries at its annual meeting. The company provided earnings guidance that acknowledged the upside of those sectors and the downside risks of a protracted weakness in the telecommunications sector.

Spark was one of the bigger misses in the earnings season, falling short of its already downgraded guidance when reporting on Friday as the potentially triple-dip recession knocked its ambitions in IT services. The shares dropped 4.8% to $3.60, the lowest close since April 2019, on a volume of 4.8m.

Sullivan said Spark was facing a repricing as people reassess what’s traditionally been a “dependable telco to something with a little more volatility”.

Vulcan Steel posted the biggest decline on the benchmark index, falling 5.9% to $7.45 and adding to Tuesday’s decline when it reported a halving in net profit with subdued demand on both sides of the Tasman.

Synlait Milk declined 3.9% to 37.5c after the milk processor’s founder and former chair and chief executive John Penno lodged a complaint over the planned capital raising that would dilute minority investors, such as himself.

Among companies reporting on Thursday, Heartland Group Holdings was unchanged at $1.17, Air NZ was unchanged at 56c, and Delegat Group fell 1% to $5.

Arvida Group was the most heavily traded company on a volume of 9.1m, ending the day unchanged at $1.64. Channel Infrastructure rose 0.6% to $1.66 on a volume of 2.6m, Vital Healthcare Property Trust declined 3% to $1.94 on a volume of 1.2m and Auckland International Airport slipped 0.4% to $7.55 on a volume of 1.2m.