Metro Glass leads shares down
Trade Me weaker but A2 Milk hits another record after result
New Zealand shares fell, with Metro Performance Glass and Trade Me Group dropping sharply, while A2 Milk Co reached yet another record. The S&P/NZX 50 Index dropped 11.05 points, or 0.1 per cent, to 7868.41. Within the index, 21 stocks fell, 20 rose and nine were unchanged. Turnover was $178 million.
Metro Performance Glass led the index lower, falling 10.8 per cent to $1.24. The company said it expects its first half results to be largely flat despite the contribution from recently acquired Australian Glass Group. Intraday, the shares fell as low as $1.19, the lowest it’s been since listing in mid-2014.
Metro Glass delivered a $19.4 million net profit for the year to March 31, down from $21.3 million a year earlier, as it absorbed the costs of the major acquisition in the Australian market and the impact of declining building activity in Canterbury and a dip in Wellington activity after the Kaikoura earthquake last November.
“It’s certainly well below expectations. It’s quite an irony in this market where we’re having a building boom but the likes of Metro Glass, Fletcher Building, Steel & Tube have all had tremendous issues,” Matt Goodson, managing director at Salt Funds Management, said.
Trade Me declined 6.6 per cent to $4.52. New Zealand’s largest online auction site posted a 26 per cent jump in annual profit to $94.4m, but it warned earnings growth will slow in the coming year as it ramps up investment.
Sky Network Television dropped a further 4.4 per cent to $2.80.
Scales Corp dropped 4.4 per cent after it said its first-half profit fell 14 per cent to $29m after its apple orchards were hit by heavy rain and winds and needed more expensive care.
Revenue was $216.7m, up 3 per cent on the year, while earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation dropped 11 per cent to $48.4m.
A2 Milk Co gained 5.2 per cent to $5.47, another record.
On Wednesday, the milk marketer announced it had tripled its annual profit to $90.6m and would use some of its accumulated cash to buy back shares, and may pay a special dividend. Revenue rose 56 per cent to $549.5m, ahead of the $545m it forecast in June, which was its second lift in sales guidance.
“Among the other companies that reported yesterday, Ebos Group gained 2.2 per cent to $17.99, Vista Group International was unchanged at $5.50, Meridian Energy dipped 0.5 per cent to $2.93, Vector dropped 1.2 per cent to $3.42, New Zealand Refining gained 0.4 per cent to $2.51 and CBL Corp rose 1.6 per cent to $3.28.
Fletcher Building dropped 1.2 per cent to $8.35. Retiring Meridian Energy chief executive Mark Binns has ruled himself out of interest in either taking over the leadership of Fletcher Building or of becoming a director of the construction company.
Other companies which held annual meetings yesterday included Infratil, which gained 0.2 per cent to $3.16, Fisher & Paykel Healthcare, which gained 0.3 per cent to $11.68, and Pacific Edge, which rose 1 per cent to 48.5c.