“We are expecting a weak reporting season – while earnings will be tough, the companies’ outlook may be brighter. And both the Reserve Bank in Australia and New Zealand meet next week.”
Vulcan Steel, declining 13c to $7.60, kicks off the reporting season followed by Skellerup Holdings, unchanged at $5.15, on Thursday. Freightways, a2 Milk and Contact Energy announce their half-year earnings on Monday.
In the US, the non-farm payroll showed job creation was lower than expected in January, leading to some commentators saying the world’s largest economy might be slowing down slightly.
The economy added 143,000 jobs in January, down from 307,000 in December and below the 169,000 forecast and the 166,000 average in 2024. Job growth was concentrated in health care (44,000), retail (34,000) and government (32,000).
The University of Michigan’s Consumer Sentiment survey showed one-year inflation at 4.3%, a rise of one percentage point from the previous month and its highest level since November 2023. Overall consumer sentiment fell to 67.8 in February, below the expectation of 71.3.
There is a fear of increased and persistent inflation under the Trump presidency.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.99% to 44,303.4 points; S&P 500 decreased 0.95% to 6025.99; and Nasdaq Composite declined 1.36% to 19,523.4.
Back home, Millennium & Copthorne Hotels NZ, up 4c or 1.8% to $2.26, has told its shareholders that CDL Hotel Holdings NZ’s takeover offer at $2.25 a share is too low and inadequate and not to take any action.
CDL Hotel, aiming to buy the 24.14% it doesn’t own, has sent takeover documents to Millennium & Copthorne shareholders. Millennium has told them to ignore the documents until they receive its own target company statement.
Gentrack declined 25c or 1.88% to $13.04; Mainfreight shed 66c to $70.07; Port of Tauranga eased 8c to $6.45; and Heartland Group decreased 4c or 3.51% to $1.10.
Meridian Energy, down 1c to $5.90, has gained final consent approval from the Environment Court, following an appeal, to build its 120MW Ruakākā Solar Farm near Whangārei.
Ruakākā will have 250,000 solar panels and the capacity to produce up 200GWh of electricity each year, enough to power about half the homes in Northland. Construction is planned for the middle of the year and completed early 2027.
Elsewhere in the energy sector, Contact eased 5c to $9.26; Mercury was up 4.5c to $6.40; and Manawa gained 11c or 2.11% to $5.32.
Other decliners were AFT Pharmaceuticals down 7c or 2.44% to $2.80; Blackpearl Group falling 6c or 7.5% to 74c; Bremworth shedding 4c or 6.9% to 54c; NZME decreasing 3c or 2.78% to $1.05; and Winton Land down 5c or 2.7% to $1.80.
Ventia Services declined 8c or 1.89% to $4.15; Oceania Healthcare was down 3c or 3.75% to 77c; Green Cross Health decreased 3c or 3.57% to 81; and Accordant Group shed 2c or 4.65% to 41c.
Comvita was up 1c to 78c after confirming that half-year revenue will be broadly maintained with the previous corresponding period and earnings will be a net loss of $6.5m-$7.5m.
Comvita said that following an independent review, the net profit in the 2024 financial year was overstated by $2m. The total overstatement of post-tax earnings was now $1m in the 2023 financial year and $3m in 2024.
Spark gained 5c or 1.74% to $2.93; Fletcher Building was up 4c to $2.99; Synlait Milk increased 3c or 5.08% to 62c; Serko was up 6c to $3.58; and Briscoe Group added 10c or 2.15% to $4.75.
Third Age Health rose 30c or 11.11% to $3 after reporting a 57.2% increase in third quarter net profit to $701,000.
Other gainers were Sanford up 11c or 2.43% to $4.64; Delegat Group improving 10c or 2.08% to $4.90; CDL Investments adding 3c or 4.05% to 77c; and Santana Minerals increasing 3.5c or 5.98% to 62c.
In the property sector, Investore was up 3c or 2.68% to $1.15; Property for Industry gained 2.5c to $2.145; and Argosy was down 1.5c to $1.01.
