Mainfreight shares hit record in weaker market

File photo / NZ Herald

Mainfreight shares remained the star of the market yesterday as the stock benefited from Monday's news it had agreed to buy Netherlands-based transport and logistics firm Wim Bosman Group.

However, weaker offshore markets set the tone for the New Zealand top-50, which ended the session in negative territory.

Mainfreight hit a record high of $8.95 before closing at $8.82, up 23c or 2.7 per cent. The stock put on 47c on Monday.

"It's still got to wait for a special resolution but certainly the market's received that [acquisition] positively," said Suzanne Kinnaird of Forsyth Barr.

"It opens up Europe to Mainfreight so it does provide more growth potential, and they've done well overseas with the other offshore parts of their business already so the market has some confidence that they can do well with this as well."

The benchmark NZX-50 index closed down 8.88 points at 3421.17, wiping out much of Monday's nearly 12-point gain.

"We were down but we probably would have expected to be, given the offshore lead and oil prices being high and ... we're going to be looking towards Thursday for the [Reserve Bank's] OCR review," Kinnaird said.

Retailer Briscoe Group rose nearly 3 per cent, or 4c, to $1.40 after reporting a 14.6 per cent rise in annual net profit, when a one-off deferred tax adjustment was excluded from the result.

The $24.1 million profit was in line with market expectations after the company had given a sales update in February.

Among the top stocks, Fletcher Building was unchanged at $8.84 and Telecom fell 5c to $2.10.

Contact Energy was flat at $6.09 and Auckland Airport fell 2c to $2.26.

Casino firm SkyCity was down 4c at $3.44, while Sky TV fell 3c to $5.52.

Market operator NZX was up 4c at $1.90, Port of Tauranga was up 3c at $7.95, Vector rose a cent to $2.42 and Freightways gained 8c to $3.28.

Restaurant Brands fell 10c to $2.31 after reporting its sales fell 1.8 per cent in the fourth quarter.

Carpet-maker Cavalier was down 4c at $3.30 and Air New Zealand dropped 2c to $1.24.

Seafood exporter Sanford was down 5c at $4.95.

- NZPA