Ebos Group shares fall 14%, dragging NZX 50 down 0.74% – Market close

Ebos Group shares tumbled 14% after a downside surprise in its earnings result.

A dramatic downward move from Ebos Group has helped to pull the New Zealand sharemarket down for the second day in a row.

The benchmark S&P/NZX 50 fell 0.74% to 12,861.84 points today, with 34 million shares trading hands, amounting to $150.1 million in value traded.

Paul Robertshawe, chief investment officer with Octagon Asset Management, said Ebos Group had “grabbed a lot of market attention”.

The health and animal care group fell 13.87% to $33.85 on volumes worth nearly $47m after it reported earnings for the year to June 30.

“They lost a Chemist Warehouse contract [in 2023]. People thought they’d done enough to offset it, but clearly, to win back market share, they’ve had to incur extra costs and lower margins."

He added the market was “definitely looking for an upside surprise in the result, and instead they got a downside surprise”.

“It’s nothing terminal,” he said.

Channel keeps charging

Elsewhere on the exchange, Scales Corporation lifted 2.85% to $5.05.

Earlier this week, Scales reported a first-half underlying net profit attributable to shareholders of $49m, up 72% year-on-year. Reported net profit was $57.6m, up 51%.

Forsyth Barr lifted its Scales target price to $5.80 from $5.60 in a note on Tuesday.

Channel Infrastructure NZ shares were up for a second consecutive day, climbing 0.89% to $2.26.

Yesterday, Channel Infrastructure recorded first-half earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (ebitda) of $48.5m, an interim dividend of 6.25cps and held full-year dividend guidance.

In an investor’s note released today, Forsyth Barr analysts Andrew Harvey-Green and Hugh Lockwood said the result was “solid” and the company was tracking towards the upper end of its earnings guidance.

They cited “ahead-of-schedule progress on Z Energy’s jet storage project”, “a nine-year extension to a private storage contract” and “opportunities arising from the Government’s increased diesel stockholding requirements” as positives for the company.

Precinct Properties shares fell 0.39% to $1.265 after it reported its annual results and announced it was looking to form a new capital partnership involving Auckland’s PwC Tower.

Comprehensive income swung to a $3.1m gain from a $30.1m loss last year, as property revaluations showed a smaller $27.6m decline versus a $105.2m drop in 2024.

Retirement sector

Robertshawe highlighted that the two major listed retirement companies, Ryman Healthcare and Summerset Group, both declined.

Ryman dipped 3.21% to $2.41, while Summerset lost 1.59% to $10.53. The third company in the sector, Oceania Healthcare, traded flat at 64 cents.

Summerset, currently the largest of the three in terms of market capitalisation, will report half-year earnings tomorrow.

At 5pm, Woolworths Group shares were down 13.2% at A$29.02 ($32.20) on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) after group earnings fell and it cut its dividend by 21.1%.

Its New Zealand segment performed relatively well, with normalised earnings before interest and taxes (ebit) growth of 40.6%.

The blue-chip S&P/ASX 200 index was trading slightly above the ledger, up 0.12% one hour before close.

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