NZ sharemarket plunges further in merciless earnings season - Market close

The S&P/NZX 50 Index fell 1.79%.

Ryman Healthcare is under the spotlight for the second day running as it plummeted nearly 20% and brought the New Zealand benchmark down with it.

The S&P/NZX 50 Index closed at 23,307.27, down 224.45 points or 1.79% on Tuesday. Across the whole market, there were 27 gainers and 108 decliners, with 53.7 million shares worth $228.7 million changing hands.

The index’s fall compounded a 1.7% loss on Monday, extending the decline in February to more than 5%.

Craigs Investment Partners research analyst Mohandeep Singh said recent weeks of trading have made it clear the market isn’t pulling any punches.

“Disappointment is being punished pretty hard by investors at the moment,” he said.

A day after it announced a $1 billion equity raise to buoy its books, Ryman again dominated traders’ bandwidth.

After coming off a trading halt just before 2pm, the retirement village and aged-care facility operator’s share price was down 21.03% to $3.08 on volume traded, amounting to over $20m.

Jeremy Sullivan, an investment adviser from Hamilton Hindin Green, said Ryman’s tumble was linked to a trading update that accompanied its equity raise announcement.

“The devil was in the detail,” he said.

The company disclosed a 40% decline in gross sales applications in the third quarter compared with the previous two comparable periods. This led to a revision of its sales projections for the final quarter of the financial year and the first half of 2026.

“The theoretical ex-rights price [Terp] of $3.90 is well above where we’re trading at the moment,” he pointed out. “The underwriters will be sweating a little bit because the $3.05 issue price doesn’t leave a lot of headroom.”

Alongside the equity raise, Ryman also announced its intentions to dual-list on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) to access more liquidity.

Incidentally, Marsden Maritime Holdings announced it would be delisted from the New Zealand Exchange (NZX) under a proposal to buy out minority shareholdings and take the company private.

The ownership change will leave Northland Regional Council (NRC), Port of Tauranga (POT), and Tupu Tonu (TT) as shareholders, with POT owning 50%, NRC owning 43% and TT owning 7%.

This announcement caused investors to chase the buyout price of $5.60, with shares rising nearly 61.11% to $5.22 on relatively low volumes.

Meanwhile, companies’ earnings disclosures continued to hit the NZX.

Lower generation and higher energy costs knocked Mercury in the first half of the 2025 financial year. The gentailer’s shares fell 4.96% to $6.03 after it reported a $16m drop in earnings (ebitdaf) in the six months to December 31 to $418m.

Singh said the result was good in a volatile market, adding, “They’re expecting hydro generation to be 15% below an average year and materially below what they were estimating back in October.

“It doesn’t change the long term but in the short term, it will probably drive a little bit of trading, which is what you’re seeing today.”

Tourism Holdings lost 6.56% to sit at $1.71 after it delivered a statutory net profit after tax (Npat) of $25.3m in the six months to December 31, down 36% on the prior corresponding period.

Singh said it was a weak result but one that had already been “well-flagged”.

“It feels like there could be a bit of softness versus what market expectations are for the full year. As a result, you’re seeing the stock fall off.”

PGG Wrightson’s share price fell 3.38% to $2 despite resuming dividends. The rural services firm’s operating earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (ebitda) increased 13% to $41.4m in its interim result.

To summarise, Singh said there’s “lots and lots of red”, emphasising what has been a merciless earnings season thus far.

“More than two-thirds of companies that have announced have been met with a negative share-price performance.”