Forsyth Barr has now set a target price of $2.85 for Spark, which was down 5.5c or 1.83% to $3. The stock has fallen nearly 40% over the past year, he said.
Synlait Milk declined 3.5c or 8.05% to 40c following the resignation of chief executive Grant Watson, who has been in the role for nearly three years and is leaving immediately. The Dairyworks chief executive Tim Carter is taking over until a new appointment is made.
Sullivan said it’s never a good idea that a chief executive leaves with such short notice. Synlait has been through a tumultuous period, and there has been a material change in shareholding (Bright Dairy now holds 65.25%). “I guess there’s always the potential for different views on the way forward.”
Vulcan Steel increased 28c or 3.21% to $9 after reporting business conditions remained soft and deteriorated across most markets especially in New Zealand during the first quarter of the 2025 financial year.
Revenue was down 13% to $263.1m compared with the September quarter last year, operating earnings (Ebitda) fell 30% to $33.1m, and sales volume declined 10% to 57,800 tonnes.
Vulcan said the current trading conditions were expected to continue for the rest of the year, and it had arranged with the banking syndicate to relax existing covenant thresholds for the next 14 months in case the economic recovery in New Zealand and Australia takes longer to materialise.
An indication of the current state of the New Zealand economy is that 234 new tractors were sold and registered in September, the lowest number for the month since 2007. About 400 tractors are normally sold in September.
Fisher and Paykel Healthcare was up 63c or 1.7% to $37.64; Infratil gained 25c or 2.05% to $12.47; Ebos Group increased 70c or 1.92% to $37.15; Mainfreight added 57c to $71.97; Freightways collected 17c or 1.73% to $9.97; and Port of Tauranga was up 15c or 2.56% to $6.01.
In the property sector, Vital Healthcare Trust increased 7c or 3.63% to $2; Argosy was up 2.5c or 2.27% to $1.125; Stride collected 3c or 2.21% to $1.39; Investore gained 3c or 2.48% to $1.24; Goodman Trust added 3c to $2.17; and Kiwi was down 2.5c or 2.5% to 97.5c.
In the retail sector, Briscoe gained 9c or 1.78% to $5.14; Michael Hill added 2c or 3.64% to 57c; and The Warehouse was up 2c or 1.85% to $1.10.
Among technology stocks, Eroad was up 4c or 4.4% to 95c; Serko increased 16c or 5.71% to $2.96; and Vista Group gained 8c or 2.6% to $3.16.
AFT Pharmaceuticals was up 12c or 3.72% to $3.35 after telling the market it has an agreement with two European partners to complete late-stage research and development for a novel injectable medicine, which remains confidential.
Tourism Holdings improved 11c or 6.01% to $1.94; Napier Port collected 4c or 1.78% to $2.29; Channel Infrastructure increased 5c or 2.67% to $1.92; NZME gained 2c or 1.92% to $1.06; and NZX increased 4c or 2.86% to $1.44.
Other gainers were Third Age Health increasing 9c or 5.14% to $1.84; Rakon adding 4c or 5.71% to 74c; Bremworth collecting 2c or 5.26% to 40c; and TradeWindow up 0.007c or 3.63% to 20c.
SkyCity declined 4c or 2.88% to $1.35; Restaurant Brands shed 9c or 2.37% to $3.70; Being AI was down 3c or 5.17% to 55c; Smartpay fell 5c or 6.67% to 70c; and T&G Global decreased 4c or 2.6% to $1.50.
Genesis Energy, unchanged at $2.07, said in a first-——quarter performance report that the Huntly power station demonstrated its flexibility during the winter with thermal generation of 1281GWh increasing 52% on the previous corresponding period. A third Rankine unit was made available to the market and coal, gas and to a lesser extent diesel was utilised.
Toronto-based Localcoin has established 67 crypto ATMs in Auckland and Christchurch. The company operates more than 400 ATMs in Australia since launching there a year ago.
