NZ stocks: Close down as telecom goes ex-dividend

The New Zealand sharemarket closed on a softer note tonight as Telecom went ex-dividend and investors paused for breath after a month of quickfire profit results.

"Most of the financial reports are out now and the market has been pleasantly surprised by the quality," said Hamilton, Hindin, Greene partner Grant Williamson.

"It's really only Telecom that's weighing on the overall index today."

The bellweather stock closed down 16c at $5.19, as it paid out 5c on its ordinary dividend and 9.5c on its special.

The benchmark NZSX-50 gross index closed down 8.77 points at 3369.0, while the NZSX all capital index dropped 9.88 points down at 991.59.

The reporting season for companies with a December 31 balance date draws to a close this week, with Waste Management today reporting a 20 percent increase in full-year profit to $31 million -- in line with earlier guidance.

The landfill and rubbish collection company closed 5c higher at 645 on the news.

Mr Williamson said the result shows the company are back on the road to "some pretty strong growth".

"I think that's now going to be fuelled from Australia," he added.

Waste Management last year indicated it planned to expand its Australian division and was interested in buying the Cleanaway business from Anglo-Australian group Brambles.

Sky City eased back 7c to 492 after last week's "better than expected" result, while there was also profit taking at Fletcher Building -- off 3c at 794 following their result last week.

And the kiwi was once again at play.

"The New Zealand dollar was under pressure at the weekend, which today flowed through to some of the exporting companies," said Mr Williamson.

Fisher and Paykel Appliances closed up 13c at $3.88 -- "the highest they've been for a while", while its Healthcare cousin was down 5c at 368.

Elsewhere, Mainfreight continued to improve -- up 4c to $4.20 -- after its "fantastic run and result" and shares in retirement home operator Metlifecare were down 1c to $3.90 after it today reported a 24 percent rise in net profit for the year ended December.

"The result just highlighted the fact that players involved in the high growth sector of retirement villages and such like are doing extremely well at the moment," Mr Williamson said.

The company, which is majority owned by Retirement Villages New Zealand, posted an annual net profit of $21.7 million, up from $17.5 million the previous year.

Fletcher Building was down 3c at $7.94, Auckland Airport dropped 2c at 183, and Nuplex -- which had its result on Friday -- was up 15c to $5.10.

Elsewhere, shares in Lyttelton Port closed flat on $2.17 after it today reported a net profit of $4.5 million for the six months to December 31, down 8 percent on the same period the previous year.

The port's revenue rose 18.8 percent to $37.9 million, but this rise was offset by a 17.9 percent rise in operating costs.

Shares in Charlie's were up 0.3c at 14.4c, after the beverage company today posted a net loss of $140,000 for the nine months to December 31 in its first reporting season as a listed company.

Certified Organics was flat on 6c after reporting it had doubled its revenue, yet still ran up a net deficit for the year ending December 2005.

However, the Auckland-based company had managed to reduce its losses of $1.031 million by 23 percent on the previous year.

Carter Holt Harvey closed down 1c to $2.73 after a Stock Exchange notice today showed billionaire businessman Graeme Hart almost has the forest products firm in his pocket, with him nearing the critical 90 percent target.

Number 2 stock Contact Energy dropped 1c to $7.14 as investors came back down to earth after last week's strong rise on news of a proposed merger with its Australian majority stakeholder, Origin.

Among the market minnows, textile company Pod, which last week posted a 23 percent fall in first-half profit to $1.3m and warned its full year would be close to break-even, fell another 7.4 percent to 50c, adding to a 10 percent fall on Friday.

Of the 149 stocks on the move today, 47 were on the rise and 58 fell.

Over 25.5 million shares were traded at a value of $81 million.

- NZPA