Continuous Disclosure: What made the naughty and nice list for investors in 2019

Sky TV has not impressed investors this year. Photo/Jason Oxenham.

The New Zealand share market has had a cracker of a year in terms of share market returns with a rise of more than 20 per cent for the NZX/S&P 50.

But beneath that top-line performance there has been both good and some not so good moments for investors.

So Stock Takes consulted the professional investment community to come up the moments that investors have savoured and the ones many would like to forget.

The bad

Fisher Funds' Sam Dickie says it is hard to pick a worse moment or moments than what Sky TV has seen this year.

"Its technology is outdated, it is losing subscribers, it lost the cricket rights, couldn't show the Rugby World Cup. All of these contributed to another horror year."

Figures from the Deloitte Top 200 report show Sky was also the biggest loser when it came to the financials.

It reported a loss of $608 million this year after a $670m write off in goodwill and the costs of an abandoned technology project.

Its share price has fallen more than 60 per cent in the last year.

For Richard Stubbs, a partner at Castle Point Funds Management, his pick for the worst moment was this week's departure of A2 chief executive Jayne Hrdlicka after just 16 months in the job.

"That was a complete disaster." Stubbs says Hrdlicka started selling shares in the company virtually as soon as she started with her gaining $4m from share sales for a little over a year's work.

For Stubbs the most irking aspect was the fact she was able to sell the shares immediately and said a salutary lesson for boards was to make sure the incentives for executives were aligned with the long-term performance of a company.

"The mechanism should not have been in place for her to be able to do that."

Also on Stubbs' list is the bad banking news with chief executives departing in the aftermath of scandals both in New Zealand and Australia.

The Aussie banks and Sky TV are also on Harbour portfolio manager Shane Solly's list.

But topping his worst moments are takeovers shrinking the New Zealand share market.

The NZX lost Trade Me, Orion Healthcare earlier this year and 75 per cent of Restaurant Brands was sold significantly shrinking its free float. Last month the directors of Abano Healthcare also agreed to sell the business which will result in a de-listing.

For Tama Willis at Devon Funds the worst moment has been the combination of issues which have dragged down Z Energy.

"Z Energy looked to be on track for an improved performance in its FY20 financial year with initial guidance presented in early May for EBITDA in the range of $450m–$490m.

BestWorst

However, a combination of Z Energy setting up its own loyalty programme, a Commerce Commission review into the sector, a weaker volume environment and intense competition resulted in a cut to ebitda guidance during September to $390m–$430m.

"It's been a very tough year for the company and Z Energy has made its own mistakes but it has also been hit by the somewhat contradictory pressures of a government review claiming they are beneficiaries of an uncompetitive industry, and earnings weakness due to intense competition in the same industry."

Also making the list were Metro Performance Glass, Gentrack and Steel and Tube.

But on a more positive note there were also some real highlights.

The good

The listing of Napier Port was a winner for many fund managers.

Stubbs says it was great to see a good quality business come to the market. The company floated on August 20 and its shares are up more than 30 per cent in value since then.

Also making the list was Reserve Bank governor Adrian Orr's double cash rate cut in August following on from the RBNZ's cut in May which has driven investors into the share market as interest rates on term deposits have continued to fall.

Power companies in particular have benefited from the rush to high-yielding stocks.

Stubbs said the phrase being used to describe the effect of low interest rates on financial markets is TINA - there is no alternative.

"With rates so low equities are the only options." If rates continue to fall and economies don't crumble then the share market could continue to rise in the coming year.

But any signs of inflation and economic wobbles could crush a number of stocks on the market, Stubbs says.

Dickie says Fisher & Paykel Healthcare had some of the best moments this year.

"[FPH] released its first Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA) mask (the Vitera) for some time and customers seem to love it so far. The company upgraded their own earnings guidance three times in three months."

A2 Milk pleased some investors but others were left with a sour taste in their mouths over the departure of its chief executive. Photo/Dean Purcell.

For Solly the best moments came from a2 Milk despite its recent chief executive debacle.

"We continue to see strong momentum from the business growing the lifetime value of its customers and developing its smart nutrition products."

Devon's Nick Dravitzki says his pick for best moment is Metlifecare's non-binding preliminary expression of interest from an unknown bidder.

"MET had been a weak performer relative to peers in 2019 up to that point. It's remarkable the arrival of a bid for the 'cheap' member of the sector has boosted the prices of the other retirement stocks by almost as much, so MET remains extremely heavily discounted versus peers.

"Nevertheless it is good to see an outside party at least partly recognising the value that exists in Metlifecare."

The ugly

Stubbs says his prize for the corporate bully of the year goes to Rio Tinto for its pressure on the power companies to bring down prices at the New Zealand smelter.

"Rio Tinto looked to hand a "Smelter Belter" to the electricity gentailers by threatening to leave their own party, the market has ultimately taken it all with a pinch of salt."

This is the last Stock Takes/Continuous column for 2019. It will return on Friday, January 17.