Market close: Solid company results give sharemarket a lift

The New Zealand sharemarket gained more than half a per cent. Photo / NZME

Retirement village operator Summerset Group Holdings again led the way as a confident New Zealand sharemarket gained more than half a per cent on the back of continuing solid corporate results.

The S&P/NZX 50 Index rose 101.62 points or 0.78 per cent to 13,173.48, and there were 90 gainers and 50 decliners across the whole market on strong volume of 62.14 million share transactions worth $205.21 million. The index has climbed 1.8 per cent so far this week.

Summerset Group Holdings surged $1.20 or 8.7 per cent to a new high of $15 after reporting a 67.5 per cent increase in half-year underlying profit to $75.5m the day before. Summerset has risen 13.25 per cent in two days.

Greg Smith, head of research with Fat Prophets, said it was a cracking result. "Summerset is flush with cash and is expanding in New Zealand and Australia. We've had another busy and positive day for company earnings, and a good lead-in from the United States markets."

On Wall Street, the technology-driven Nasdaq Composite reached a new high, rising 0.52 per cent to 15,019.80 points.

At home, Mainfreight put on another $3 or 3.32 per cent to reach a new peak of $93.30.

Agribusiness Scales Corporation rose 41c or 9.17 per cent to $4.88 after upgrading its 2021 earnings forecast. Net profit is expected to be $32m-$37m, and operating earnings (ebitda) $65m-$72m.

Scales reported a 17.5 per cent increase in net profit to $32.62m on steady revenue of $253.83m for the six months ending June. Mr Apple exports reached 3.6m tray equivalents, down from 3.9m compared with the previous corresponding period.

SkyCity Entertainment took a leap of faith, up 19c or 6.13 per cent to $3.29, after reporting a 33.7 per cent fall in net profit to $156.1m on revenue of $951.9m, down 15.4 per cent, for the year ending June. It is paying a final dividend of 7c a share on September 24. Adelaide casino's contribution to revenue increased 62.7 per cent to $196.9m.

Smith said SkyCity was losing $1m a day during the alert level 4 lockdown but investors were heartened by its determination to maintain the dividend at 60-90 per cent of normalised earnings.

The day before announcing its latest result, a2 Milk increased 20c or 2.88 per cent to $7.15. Smith said there was a whisper that its daigou trade had improved and stabilised – this affirmation will be well received by investors.

Chorus recovered 16c or 2.37 per cent to $6.92; Ebos Group increased 69c or 2.02 per cent to $34.81; Ryman Healthcare collected 32c or 2.14 per cent to $15.25, Heartland Bank, also producing a strong result, picked up another 10c or 4.63 per cent to $2.26; Air New Zealand rose 5c or 3.37 per cent to $1.535; and DGL Group climbed 26c or 12.32 per cent to $2.37.

Other gainers were Property for Industry, up 5c to $3.035; Comvita collecting 7c or 2.09 per cent to $3.42; Hallenstein Glasson increasing 19c or 2.79 per cent to $6.99; Delegat Group rising 45c or 3.42 per cent to $13.61; PGG Wrightson up 10c or 2.79 per cent to $3.69; and Vista Group picking up 6c or 2.74 per cent to $2.25.

Move Logistics (formerly TIL) collected 4c or 2.27 per cent to $1.80, having risen 30c or 20 per cent in the past week. Serko, an addition to the FTSE Global Small Cap Index, rose 15c or 1.92 per cent to $7.95.

Meridian, a 100 per cent renewable energy generator, was down 7c to $5.08 after reporting a 27 per cent fall in underlying profit to $232m on revenue of $4.29 billion, up 26 per cent, for the year ending June. It is a paying a final dividend of 11.2 a share on October 15.

Meridian's New Zealand retail sales grew 14 per cent but hydro generation was down 12 per cent, with inflows from November last year to April this year the third lowest on record. Meridian recorded net profit of $428m, up 145 per cent, but this included a $248m benefit in hedging.

Other energy companies Contact declined 7c to $8.27, Mercury also fell 7c to $6.92; Trustpower decreased 19c or 2.32 per cent to $7.99; Genesis was up 4.5c to $3.39; and Vector gained 4c to $4.18.

Market leader Fisher and Paykel was down 44c to $32.46; Sanford fell 10c or 2.13 per cent to $4.60; and Enprise Group declined 13c or 4.51 per cent to $2.75.

Sky Network Television fell 0.004c or 2.47 per cent to 15.8c after announcing a 10 for one share consolidation on September 16, and a solid annual result. For the year ending June, Sky TV turned around a loss of $156.8m to net profit of $47.54m on revenue of $711.23m, down 4.7 per cent. But its programming costs were higher than expected.

Napier Port's revenue for the nine months to June increased 8.4 per cent to $83m, boosted by a 36 per cent rise in log exports and bulk cargo contributed $30.8m, up 38.1 per cent. Containers were up 4.1 per cent to $50.2m. Napier's share price slipped 4c to $3.17. Port of Tauranga was up 5c to $7.35.