Astute investors set for more good news

By SIMON HENDERY

The Warehouse is expected to post strong third-quarter sales figures on Wednesday, providing the latest in a run of good news stories for investors with an interest in the retail sector.

Investors who were sharp enough to buy into the company two months ago must feel they really have got a bargain its share price has added about $1 over the period.

Macquarie Equities senior analyst Arthur Lim said the retail sector was benefiting from recent consolidation, including last year's closure of the Deka chain, which had strengthened the positions of remaining players, and also from more spending fuelled by an upswing in the domestic economy.

Further evidence of that upswing is likely to come on Friday with the release of what are expected to be strong March-quarter retail trade statistics.

Another hot retail stock is Pacific Retail Group, which is the subject of a $2.25 full takeover offer. PRG shares closed at $2.43 on Friday, suggesting the market expects Eric Watson's Logan Corporation may be forced to increase its offer price if it wants to win full control.

Elsewhere, market watchers are wondering whether Air New Zealand's recent spectacular takeoff can be maintained. The company's share price rocketed up 45 per cent last week, thanks to a mixture of good corporate news and index buying by fund managers.

Lim said it was not clear how much longer the demand for Air New Zealand shares would last managers of index funds have been scrambling to buy the stock from the small pool of freely traded shares after its reweighting within the NZSE Top 40 and Mid-Cap indices last week.



Thursday's annual meeting of the country's largest hotel operator, CDL Hotels, will mark a milestone for the Shareholders Association.

It is a year since it made its first public outing to CDL's last annual meeting and chairman Bruce Sheppard said he would return this year to once again question CDL executives about the company's performance.

Analysts' eyes will be on market heavyweight Telecom on Friday, when it reports its nine-month result.