Market close: Mainfreight shares rally for second day on US update

Mainfreight's shares rose 2 per cent to $77. Photo / Supplied

Mainfreight's announcement yesterday that its US revenue increase of 41.4 per cent to US$257.5 million ($408m) meant the logistic company's stock rallied for a second day in the New Zealand share market (NZX).

The S&P/NZX 50 Index rose 164.4 points, or 1.45 per cent, to 11,492.65. Turnover was $140.4m

Grant Davies, an investment adviser at Hamilton Hindin Greene, said Mainfreight was the main mover on the index today, after the positive US update from yesterday. Mainfreight's shares rose 2 per cent to $77 today.

He said Mainfreight's good fortune in the market had also flowed through to express package group Freightways, which was up 4.7 per cent to $10.32.

Forsyth Barr head of research Andy Bowley called Mainfreight's update another "exceptional" performance report. "It's business as usual for the team in blue, but we do need to pinch ourselves as to the consistently high levels of growth being achieved," he said in a note.

The logistic company's management has warned that demand for its services may begin to slow as economic activity shrinks. Jarden research analysts Andrew Steele and Nick Yeo also had a positive reaction and said it was a "better-than-expected result" that reflected a strong, broad-based profit performance globally.

"While these outlook comments are clearly cautious, they do not come as a surprise and we believe they are not Mainfreight-specific but reflect the reality of the broader operating environment," the analysts said.

Cancer diagnostics company Pacific Edge is in a trading halt as its legal team looks at a draft proposal that could change whether its cancer test is eligible for health insurance funding in the US. Pacific Edge asked the exchange to stop trading shortly after the market opened this morning, on the news that its Cxbladder product – a urine test – had been mentioned in a draft proposal from healthcare provider Novitas.

Pacific Edge told the NZX that the draft proposal released overnight related to "a different approach to determine which cancer biomarker tests are eligible for reimbursement" and that the company plans to stay in a trading halt while its legal team looks over the proposal. The company shares were flat at 78 cents per share yesterday.

The New Zealand Shareholders' Association has announced it will oppose the directors nominated to replace the NZ Automotive Investments board at the vote in August. Four of the company's five board members resigned earlier this month after the firm's largest shareholder and director, David Sena, said he planned to have them removed.

NZ Automotive Investment's (NZAI) best-known brand is 2 Cheap Cars, which was founded in 2011 by Sena and Eugene Williams. The company's shares were up 0.5 per cent to $3.68 by the end of the day.

Synlait Milk chief executive Grant Watson has rejigged the processor's senior management team to put greater emphasis on its core businesses of advanced nutrition, ingredients, consumer products and foodservice. The firm will update the strategy when it reports its annual result on September 26 and has five vacancies to be confirmed in the senior leadership team. The new dedicated foodservice role will add focus on that market and China and will be based in Shanghai. Synlait shares were up 2.6 per cent to $3.20. Dual-listed infant formula exporter A2 Milk was also up 1 per cent to $4.99.

The NZ dollar was trading at 62.95 US cents at 3pm in Wellington, up from 62.66 cents on Thursday. The trade-weighted index was at 71.38, from 71.10 yesterday.