Prices buoyed by keen interest in F&P result

New Zealand shares edged higher, with Fisher & Paykel Healthcare among the day’s leaders as investors anticipate a strong result for the respirator maker on Monday.

The S&P/NZX 50 index rose 4.87 points, or 0.04 per cent, to 11,129.23. Within the index, 12 stocks rose, 33 fell and five were unchanged. Turnover was $194 million.

F&P Healthcare climbed 3.5 per cent to $32, taking its gain so far this year to 44.5 per cent. The company has been a beneficiary of the Covid-19 pandemic, especially as the outbreak spreads across the US, where F&P gets about 45 per cent of its revenue.

F&P Healthcare will report its annual earnings on Monday and has provided guidance for profit to be between $275m and $280m on revenue of $1.24 billion in the March year.

Tourism Holdings led the market higher, up 8.1 per cent at $2. On Thursday, after trading closed, the company said it didn’t need to raise new equity after reaching an agreement with its lenders for debt funding of up to $225m. It expects to report an underlying profit of between $17.5m and $19m, excluding impairments of its Togo unit, in the year ending June 30.

Mercury NZ declined 1.6 per cent to $4.60 after it trimmed $10m from its annual earnings guidance and lowered its hydrogeneration outlook.

Among other power companies, Meridian Energy fell 1.6 per cent to $4.82, Contact Energy increased 0.8 per cent to $6.21 and Genesis Energy fell 2.8 per cent to $2.995, the biggest decline on the day.

Refining NZ fell 2.6 per cent to 74c. The company said on Thursday that it may close its refinery and simplify its operations by supplying fuel into Northland and Auckland. It’s also weighing up a staged transition to an import terminal.

Z Energy, a cornerstone shareholder of the refinery operator, is in favour of the transition to the import terminal. It decreased 1.5 per cent to $2.71.

Air New Zealand was unchanged at $1.29. The airline fell on Thursday after transtasman rival Qantas Airways announced a major restructuring and A$1.9 billion capital raising.

Yesterday, Bain Capital was announced as the successful bidder to buy Virgin Australia out of administration.

Auckland International Airport fell 2 per cent to $6.23. Retailer Kathmandu Holdings advanced 0.9 per cent to $1.15 after a survey showed consumer confidence improved this month, with a net 5 per cent of respondents saying now’s a good time to buy a big-ticket item.

Augusta Capital fell 1.1 per cent to 89c. After trading closed, the property funds manager reported an annual loss of $27m, due largely to writedowns.