Market close: NZ shares rally off back of latest reporting season

The port companies performed better than expected. Port of Tauranga increased net profit 15.4 per cent to $102.37 million. Photo / NZME

The New Zealand sharemarket put in another spurt as the latest reporting season comes to an end, with the port companies performing better than expected.

Despite a sharp fall in the last half-hour, the S&P/NZX 50 Index picked up 8.17 points or 0.06 per cent to 13,059.79, after reaching an intraday high of 13,106.25.

There were 63 gainers and 74 decliners over the whole market on volume of 56.56 million share transactions worth $198.45 million.

Shane Solly, portfolio manager with Harbour Asset Management, said the company results overall have been strong with far more beating forecasts than missing them – 15 to one.

"The market has had a good rally – up nearly 4 per cent so far this month, which is pretty stunning – and now there will be a period of time for digesting the earnings results," he said.

Three port companies announced solid annual results, all with increased profit. Port of Tauranga increased 23c or 3.22 per cent to $7.38, Marsden Maritime Holdings which operates Northport near Whangarei rose 17c or 2.77 per cent to $6.30, and South Port New Zealand at Bluff gained 7c to $8.57.

Port of Tauranga, the country's largest port, increased net profit 15.4 per cent to $102.37m on revenue of $338.28m, up 12 per cent, for the year ending June. It is paying a final dividend of 7.5c a share on October 1.

Port of Tauranga's profit was built on a 14.3 per cent rise in log exports and 46 per cent increase in subsidiary and associate company earnings. Total trade was 25.7m tonnes, up 3.8 per cent, but containers slipped 4.1 per cent to 1.2m TEUs (20-foot equivalent units) with 106 few container vessel visits between September last year and June this year.

Solly said Port of Tauranga's result was pretty impressive, considering ships weren't turning up when they should have and then having to deal with congestion. They have done a good job.

Marsden Maritime Holdings, picking up some business from Auckland, enjoyed a 113.5 per cent increase in net profit to $14.26m on revenue of $16.74m, up 10.8 per cent. Bulk cargo was up 18.3 per cent to 3.54 tonnes including 2.83m tonnes of log exports. Marsden is paying a final dividend of 11.25c a share on September 24.

South Port had a 13.61 per cent increase in net profit of $10.71m on revenue of $47.66m, up 6.83 per cent, with the Tiwai Point aluminium smelter making up 30 per cent of cargo throughput and 20 per cent of profit. Total cargo was 3.45 tonnes, up 5.5 per cent.

Cinema software firm Vista Group, which has a global market share of 51 per cent excluding China, climbed 19c or 8.37 per cent to $2.46 on promising box office recovery with an exciting pipeline of Hollywood movies.

Vista improved its six-month loss to $2.6m from $47.9m in 2020 on steady revenue of $44.9m, with recurring income of $37m, up 13 per cent. Operating earnings (ebitda) turned away from a loss of $6.5m to gain of $6.4m for the half year ending June. Vista expects full-year revenue to be $95m-$100m.

Market leaders and growth stocks Fisher and Paykel Healthcare increased 27c to $32.25, and Mainfreight rose 50c to $92.41, after going over $93 earlier in the day.

Skellerup Holdings rose 19c or 3.61 per cent to $5.45, Summerset Group Holdings was up 14c to $15.34, Restaurant Brands climbed 39c or 2.5 per cent to $16; and Scales Corporation increased 15c or 3.03 per cent to $5.10 on the back of strong results.

Chorus gained 9c to $6.94; Ryman Healthcare increased 17c to $15.30; Meridian was up 5c to $5.07; Tourism Holdings rose 11c or 4.72 per cent to $2.44; SkyCity Entertainment increased 6c to $3.33; and Scott Technology jumped 9c or 3.19 per cent to $2.91.

The a2 Milk Company was down another 25c or 3.94 per cent to $6.09 as investors figure out whether the fall in earnings has reached the bottom.

Synlait Milk declined 5c to $3.33; Freightways was down declined 14c to $12.55; Trustpower decreased 15c or 1.86 per cent to $7.90; Fletcher Building fell 20c or 2.65 per cent to $7.34; Vector shed 11c or 2.58 per cent to $4.15; and Plexure Group was down 3c or 5.26 per cent to 54c.

Wine exporters Delegat Group and Foley Wines reported record operating profit for the year ending June, rising 22c to $14.32 and 2c to $1.49 respectively.

Delegat's profit increased 8 per cent to $65.5m on steady revenue of $302.7m, and it sold 3.17m cases, down 3 per cent. It is paying a final dividend of 20c a share on October 8, and provided a full-year 2022 profit guidance of $57-$61m.

Foley Wines' profit was up 3.7 per cent to $8.03m on revenue of $57.98m, with a 6 per cent increase in case sales to 565,000. It is paying a dividend of 4c a share on October 22.

Sky Network Television increased 0.003c to 16.6c after extending a multi-year programming agreement with WarnerMedia that provided additional access to HBO Max.