Market close: Profit-taking sinks shares; Ebos goes into trading halt

Ebos went into a trading halt after speculation it has an interest in buying Australian pet care and veterinary company Greencross. Photo / 123RF

The New Zealand sharemarket succumbed to some profit-taking, falling 1 per cent after a strong run, and all eyes are on the prospect of Ebos Group making another billion-dollar purchase.

The S&P/NZX 50 Index jumped to an intraday high of 11,391.21 but by late morning it was on a downward slide as investors decided to take some welcome gains in selected stocks.

The index closed at 11,230.87, down 121.97 points or 1.07 per cent, but is still ahead 0.8 per cent for the week.

There were 61 gainers and 72 decliners over the whole market on volumes of 25.3 million share transactions worth $102.02 million.

Utilities investor Infratil fell 43c or 4.06 per cent to $10.17 despite reporting a strong half-year result. Infratil traded as high as $10.74 and low as $10.12 during the day.

Infratil’s revenue was up 54 per cent to $1.46 billion and net profit climbed 118 per cent to $1.214b. It is paying an interim dividend of 7c a share on December 19.

Mainfreight was down $2.10 or 3.14 per cent to $64.80; Contact Energy declined 13c to $7.77; Fisher and Paykel Healthcare shed 25c to $21.90; and Port of Tauranga decreased 7c to $5.41 after their recent rallies.

Jeremy Sullivan, investment adviser with Hamilton Hindin Greene, said: “Market sentiment has improved with some stocks up nicely and it looks like there’s been some short-term profit-taking.

“We also saw a robust adjustment in the currency with the NZ dollar back under US60c after a 2.5 per cent rise in the cross-rate,” Sullivan said. The kiwi was trading at US59.80c against the American greenback.

Ebos went into a trading halt after speculation it has an interest in buying Australian pet care and veterinary company Greencross, which operates Animates in New Zealand and has an overall valuation of $3.5 billion. Ebos last traded at $38.60.

Greencross is owned by American investment firm TPG Capital, AustralianSuper and Ontario Pension Plan. Greencross recently bought Melbourne-based Habitat Pet Supplies with five stores.

Ebos’ last big purchase was LifeHealthcare early last year for $1.2b. Mark Lister, investment director with Craigs Investment Partners, said Ebos has a history of acquiring other businesses and integrating them well into their own operations.

Some investors thought Ebos might be buying New Zealand-listed Green Cross Health which had its biggest trading day in six months with 93,500 shares changing hands. Green Cross was down 3c or 2.48 per cent to $1.18.

Global a2 Milk was up 9c or 2.22 per cent to $4.15 after telling shareholders at the annual meeting it is on track to grow sales to $2b by the 2026 financial year and improve operating (ebitda) margin into the ‘teens’.

The property sector was weaker. Precinct was down 4c or 3.38 per cent to $1.145; Kiwi declined 3c or 3.49 per cent to 83c; Stride fell 5c or 3.7 per cent to $1.30; Property for Industry shed 4.5c or 2.01 per cent to $2.195; Goodman Trust was down 3.5c to $2.12; and Investore decreased 2c to $1.12.

Investore, specialising in large format retail properties, reported steady half-year revenue of $30.37m and a net loss of $66.53m, driven by an $82.7m or 7.8 per cent reduction in the value of its $1b portfolio. It is paying an interim dividend of 1.975c a share on December 12.

Wine exporter Delegat Group decreased 25c or 3.29 per cent to $7.35 after downgrading its forecasts, with global case sales expected to decline 1.7 per cent to 3.61m and net profit down to $57m-$61m for the 2024 financial year. The previous guidance was $62m-$67m.

Fellow exporter Foley Wines was down 4c or 3.23 per cent to $1.20.

Millennium & Copthorne Hotels NZ, down 2c to $1.85, and sister company CDL Investment, decreasing 1.5c or 1.88 per cent to 78.5c, were both fined $50,000 by the NZ Markets Disciplinary Tribunal for breaching rules concerning the make-up of its audit committees between 2018 and 2020.

Other decliners were SkyCity, down 5c or 2.75 per cent to $1.77; Serko, falling 14c or 3.08 per cent to $4.41; and Scott Technology, shedding 10c or 2.9 per cent to $3.35.