Sharemarket forgotten darling
Sports-mad investors could be forgiven for the oversight
As New Zealand basks in the afterglow of winning back the America’s Cup and going one-up in the three-test rugby union series against the Lions, someone forgot to mention the New Zealand sharemarket, which this week hit its highest point ever.
Sports-mad investors could be forgiven for the oversight. After all, the market has been steadily eking out new highs for a while now, as have other markets around the world.
Tempting though it is to link the big wins on the ocean waves and the footy paddock, the local market’s success was most likely due to more mundane matters, such as a re-think about one of the market’s biggest companies and a significant index constituent, Fletcher Building.
The construction and building materials giant has taken a flogging since a series of earnings downgrades, but has staged something of a comeback. Late last year, the stock traded at $11.10 before sliding to just $7.47 early this month.
However, recent weeks have seen Fletcher Building rally, closing at $8.17 yesterday.
Stock Takes understands the reappraisal of Fletcher Building may have had something to do with the stock featuring in a recent broker roadshow to overseas investors.
“You have seen a re-rating of Fletcher Building, which has been quite unloved for a period of time now,” said Rickey Ward, New Zealand equity manager at JBWere.
The sharemarket has also been underpinned by a stellar performance from Fisher & Paykel Healthcare, which has gone from $8.52 at the end of 2016 to $11.57.
Elsewhere, it’s been onward and upward for a2 Milk and a return to favour for the manuka honey maker Comvita.
More broadly, t he heavily dividend-weighted local market has remained well sought by investors looking for reasonable returns in a low interest rate environment.
Those factors, and renewed strength in overseas markets, helped drive the NZX 50 index to 7685.45 — and its highest ever point— yesterday. The last time New Zealand held the America’s Cup, in 2003, the index was at 1898.
Mystery SkyCity Entertainment seller
Shares in SkyCity Entertainment took a dive after a big block of shares traded on Wednesday — the same day chairman Chris Moller said he planned to step down.
More than 40 million shares, worth $162 million, and representing 6 per cent of the company, traded. No substantial security holder notices have since been registered with the NZX, but the block looks likely to have come from an institutional investor.
Moller, in a surprise move, announced his retirement, effective from December 31, and the board decided unanimously to invite Rob Campbell to be its chairman-elect.
Casino companies have fallen from favour after James Packer’s Crown Resorts ran foul of the law in China. This week, three Crown employees were handed jail sentences for promoting gambling in China.
SkyCity shares were caught in the downdraft last year, even though it does not have staff in China. Even so, China’s clampdown has affected the lucrative “high roller” end of the market.
Comvita comeback
Shares in manuka honey maker Comvita have bounced back after chief executive Scott Coulter said the overall risk to the industry from myrtle rust was low.
Myrtle rust hasn’t been found on manuka plants in the wild and so far has only been found in plant nurseries and domestic environments, he said. Comvita shareholders have been taken on a rough ride over the past few months.
The company last year hit trouble with its informal trade channels into China. In April, Comvita said trading conditions in New Zealand and Australia had not delivered in line with its expectations.
To cap it off, bad weather over the summer had hit the honey harvest hard. For the year to June, Comvita expects to report an operating loss of around $7m and a net profit of $9m. The stock last traded at $5.96, up from $5.20 early this month.
NZX rethink
The NZX has announced that it will review the equity market’s structure, and has indicated a likely outcome will be the consolidation of NZX’s three equity markets the NZX, NXT and NZAX onto a single main board.
The relatively recent NXT market experiment has been a failure with only four companies listed to date, according to Mark Devcich, head of research and portfolio manager at Pie Funds.
One of the NXT market constituents, G3 Group, has announced its intention to delist from that market, which may have prompted the review from the NZX. The G3 Group had only 17,108 shares worth $10,757 traded in the last six months.
“Given the meagre trading volumes that have occurred on the NXT market it is debatable whether a move to the NZX main board will benefit these smaller companies’ liquidity or enhance their ability to raise fresh capital,” Devcich said.
“It is more likely they will stay in the NZX backwaters with little attention shown by investors,” he said.
Fund managers said the big issue for small companies in NZ is the cost in maintaining a public listing and of compliance.