Channel Infrastructure gains not enough to keep NZX 50 above ledger - Market close

Channel Infrastructure shares lifted 1.82% after its HY result. Photo / Denise Piper

Another action-packed day of earnings has produced mixed results, with Channel Infrastructure NZ impressing and Restaurant Brands disappointing.

After hovering slightly down for most of the Tuesday trading window, the benchmark S&P/NZX 50 ended 0.93% under on 12,957.98 points due to a surge in volumes linked to MSCI index rebalancing.

A total of 61.9 million shares changed hands, amounting to over $254.6m in value traded.

Talking ahead of close, Matt Goodson, the managing director of Salt Funds Management, said he was “coming up for air after getting swamped with results”.

Seven large- and mid-cap companies reported earnings yesterday, and another four followed on Tuesday.

So far, Goodson said earnings season has been “a little bit sub-par”.

“If anything, the shadow expectation was slightly weaker than what we’ve seen, just given how tough the economy was in that June quarter.”

Interim

NZME reported an after-tax loss of $400,000 for the first half of its financial year, with its board declaring an interim dividend of 3 cents per share (cps).

The media company, which owns BusinessDesk andThe NZ Herald, gained 3.6% to $1.15 after it posted operating revenues of $165.7m for the six months to June 30, down 3% from the same period in 2024.

Goodson said the result came in “largely as expected” and that it was unsurprising that revenues were weak.

“It was a result that several investors would have been a bit nervous about, but [NZME] has managed to come through as expected and possibly set themselves up for a slightly better year ahead.”

Restaurant Brands shares lost 0.34% to end the day at $2.90 after it too posted interim earnings. While group sales grew 2.3% to $703.2m, net profit after tax (npat) dipped 5.6% to $11.9m compared with the prior comparable period.

The company said the decrease reflected “the slower-than-anticipated improvement in macroeconomic conditions across key regions”.

“It’s clear that they have a very unhelpful combination of cost pressures and not too many signs of a revenue upswing just yet,” Goodson said.

Channel Infrastructure NZ recorded first-half earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (ebitda) of $48.5m, an interim dividend of 6.5cps, and held full-year dividend guidance.

In a quick note after the result, Craigs Investment Partners senior research analyst Mohandeep Singh highlighted that gearing was on the lower end of the company’s target range.

He said this “provides plenty of capacity for debt-funded growth and mergers and acquisitions”.

The stock finished the day up 1.82% at $2.24. After slow-and-steady declines to lows of about 40 cents in March 2021, Channel Infrastructure is now up more than 240% over the last five years.

Annual

Genesis Energy shares fell 3.32% to $2.33 after the company announced forward guidance for earnings short of market expectations.

Genesis published guidance for ebitda of between $430m and $460m for the year to June 2026, with the top end below the $470.4m ebitda reported for the latest financial year.

In a client note giving first impressions, Jarden described the forward outlook for operating earnings as a “big disappointment”.

Alongside its annual result, Vulcan Steel announced it had signed a conditional sale and purchase agreement to buy Roofing Industries for $88m. It also launched a fully underwritten equity raise of approximately $96.3m to fund the deal.

Vulcan’s stock is in a trading halt on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) and NZX until Aug 28 to allow completion of the institutional offer of the equity raise.

On account of the late surge in volumes, Meridian sank 3.54% to $5.45 ahead of its full-year result on Wednesday.

Ebos Group, Precinct Properties and Winton Land are also set to report full-year earnings.