“The OCR [Official Cash Rate] decision yesterday, the lower forecast track and the signal of more cuts has put a bit of a rocket under the New Zealand market,” Lister said.
“While the economy isn’t as far from firing on all cylinders, businesses are certainly in better spirits than they were.
“The reporting season is pointing to us having stabilised and passed the worst, and you’re actually seeing the odd good result come out.”
Skellerup’s full-year result was followed by a share price rally of 6.38% or 30c to $5.00 after 380,365 shares changed hands on turnover worth $1.899m.
The Red Band gumboot maker said it had made $54.5m in profit after tax, with earnings before interest and tax of $78m. Its profit was in line with expectations, falling in the middle of the $52m to $56m range flagged in July.
Lister said Skellerup’s outlook statement was positive, pointing to an acceleration in revenue over the next one to three years.
Auckland International Airport also reported its full-year results, with a “solid” net profit after tax up 12% to $310.4m.
Its share price fell 0.64% or 5c to $7.75 on turnover worth $11.7m.
Lister said the result was nothing of concern, but also nothing to get excited about.
“The result was largely in line with expectations, no real surprises. The outlook was maybe a little on the cautious side to 2026.
“Guided to net profit after tax [npat] of $300m, give or take, I think markets we’re expecting north of $300m. They might still actually do better than they’re suggesting, but [it is] just a bit of a cautious commentary.”
The market’s biggest stock, Fisher & Paykel Healthcare, also gave guidance on its first half at its annual meeting.
The company’s outlook for the full year remains unchanged, with operating revenue in the range of about $2.15 billion to $2.25b and net profit in the range of about $390m to $440m.
“They’re clearly trading better than where people expected them to be at this point through the year. It wasn’t so much the guidance, it was more the ‘here’s how we’ve gone so far this financial year’ that they looked quite positive.”
Fisher & Paykel Healthcare’s share price rose 2.12% or 80c to $38.45 on turnover worth $10.8m.
US stocks closed mostly lower on Wednesday local time as the tech sector remained under pressure, while investors kept an eye on retail earnings and weighed the prospect of US Federal Reserve interest rate cuts.
The broad-based S&P 500 Index slid 0.2% to 6395.78, while the tech-focused Nasdaq Composite Index declined 0.7% to 21,172.86.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average was flat at 44,938.31.
The tech pullback comes as markets reached a point where many stocks “were overbought” after soaring to record highs in recent weeks, Tim Urbanowicz of Innovator Capital Management said.
“But we still view the long-term trend [as] intact,” he said.
Among major tech companies, Nvidia shares lost 0.1% and Advanced Micro Devices pulled back 0.8%. Broadcom fell 1.3%.
– Additional reporting AFP
Tom Raynel is a multimedia business journalist for the Herald, covering small business, retail and tourism.
