Steel &Tube shares fell 4.29% to 67 cents. Photo / NZME
New Zealand’s benchmark stock index has risen on a busy day on the exchange, with seven companies filing earnings.
The S&P/NZX 50 index gained 0.28% to 13,079.50 points on Monday, with 43.5 million shares changing hands worth about $115m.
The index is trading up 0.09% for the year, having spent most of the last nine months in the red.
Craigs Investment Partners’ senior research analyst, Mohandeep Singh, said, except for Sky City Entertainment, which has fallen over 25% since it reported, the disclosures have been “reasonably good”.
“There’s not a huge amount of red there.”
Downside
Of the seven stocks that reported on Monday, Singh said Steel & Tube disappointed the most.
Chief executive Mark Malpass said the company was starting to see early signs of recovery and expected activity to continue to improve through the 2026 financial year.
The steel supplier, distributor and processor dropped 4.29% to 67 cents on volumes worth $120,000 in value traded.
“Their commentary outlook is positive, but timing around that is uncertain,” Singh said.
The other company that filed a “well-flagged but weak result” was Michael Hill International, Singh said. Shares fell 4.6% to 41.5 cents.
The jewellery firm gave no guidance, though margins held flat and group sales were up thanks to the Canadian segment.
In an investor call after the result, interim chief executive Andrew Lowe said the company’s Canadian division was benefiting from consumers turning their back on United States goods in response to trade tensions.
“We can proudly point to our New Zealand heritage,” he said.
Gainers
Of the other stocks that reported, Singh said Scales Corporation was the company that most deserves “a pat on the back”.
“The stock’s been on a strong run, and deservedly so, because that horticulture business is coming back to a more normal amount of volume after a tough cyclone,” he said.
He said it was a very strong first-half result. Despite having upgraded guidance recently, the number came out ahead, leading to another upgrade for full-year profit.
Full-year profit guidance was upgraded from between $40m and $45m to $45m-$50m, up 12% at the midpoint. Shares gained 2.95% to $4.89.
Property for Industry shares lifted 1.53% to $2.33 after it posted earnings for the 12 months to June 30.
Net profit after tax rose to $106 million, reversing a $46.1m loss a year earlier. The turnaround was driven by $70.7m in fair-value gains across its $2.17 billion portfolio, compared with losses of $90m in the prior year.
Energy distributor Vector shares were up 2.03% to $4.53 after it took a $37m impairment to reflect fewer gas connections and “significant market uncertainty” over future gas supply in its full-year result.
“Following many divestments, Vector is now a clean electricity and gas networks business,” Singh said.
Pays to be a bank
Elsewhere on the exchange, Heartland Group Holdings continued its rally towards $1, gaining 5.56% and finishing on 95 cents.
The stock was trading at 80 cents on Aug 19 but shot up after it reported last on Thursday.
“The market’s continuing to like that result,” Singh said. “It was a weak result, which was pre-guided. They had some write-downs and some disasters, but it looks like the second half of the year was really good for them.”
Singh pointed out that three of the four large banks across the ditch, Wespac, NAB and ANZ, are all trading up over 12% on the Australian Securities Exchange over the last month, suggesting that maybe Heartland was playing catch-up.
Sticking with banks, Singh said the Reserve Bank of New Zealand’s revision of its Official Cash Rate (OCR) expectations last week had lifted sentiment.
“I think the Reserve Bank has helped the market by publishing an interest rate track that is much lower than what we saw at its May policy, which implies two more cuts now,” he said.
“[The thought of] an OCR at 2.5% just adds a bit of positivity.”