MARKET CLOSE: NZ shares fall; F&P Healthcare dips

MARKET CLOSE: NZ shares fall; F&P Healthcare dips on outlook

May 26 – New Zealand shares fell, pushing the NZX 50 Index down for a fourth straight day, after Fisher & Paykel Healthcare forecast profit that lagged behind expectations and Nuplex Industries sank.

The NZX 50 fell 6.12, or 0.2%, to 2734.07. Within the index, 27 stocks fell, 12 rose and 11 were unchanged. Turnover was NZ$78.6 million, with demand tempered by the U.S. and U.K. markets being closed for public holidays.

F&P Healthcare slipped fell 6.5% to NZ$2.87 after the manufacturer of breathing masks and respirators forecast 2010 earnings of NZ$75 million to NZ$80 million. That’s less than the NZ$102.9 million estimate in a Reuters survey. Profit in 2009 jumped 76% jump in full-year profit as the weaker New Zealand dollar swelled the value of rising sales of respirators and breathing masks in the U.S.

“The business is going fine but there’s just a question mark on the confusing outlook,” said Stephen Walker, investment strategist at Goldman Sachs JBWere. The forecast is “short of expectations.”

Nuplex slid 8.3% to 44 cents and was the biggest decliner on the NZX 50 today. Still, it has climbed from the 27 cents-a-share price it last raised funds at, amid relief that its balance sheet isn’t under as much pressure since it raised more capital.

Skellerup Holdings dropped 5% to 2.87. Fisher & Paykel Appliances, whose stock is halted, is expected to announce how it will inject new capital into the business and refinance its bank debt. The announcement will coincide with its earnings release.

PGG Wrightson, the nation’s biggest rural services company, climbed 0.8% to NZ$1.35. The company today named Jason Dale as its new chief financial officer, who left the same role at Auckland International Airport after barely a year in the job. Auckland Airport rose 0.6% to NZ$1.61.

Telecom Corp. advanced 4.9% to NZ$2.58, the biggest gain on the NZX 50 today, having led the index lower yesterday. The launch of the phone company’s 3G network looms at the end of the month, giving it a shot at taking on rival
Vodafone for high-speed mobile internet customers.

“It’s business time,” said James Lindsay, who helps manage NZ$400 million at Tyndall Investment Management. “Over the next month or so it will be very interesting to see pricing plans, special offers, what their strategy will be –a soft or hard launch.”

Vodafone is likely to fight back, he said.

Fletcher Building, which dropped alongside Telecom yesterday, climbed 1% to NZ$6.33 today. NZX Ltd., the stock exchange operator, rose 4% to NZ$8.85 and has soared 53% this year as it pressed on with a strategy of diversifying earnings away from straight exchange business by buying new data streams and developing new markets.

Freightways gained 3.1% to NZ$3 and Rakon Ltd. which posts its earnings tomorrow, gained 2% to NZ$1.50.

(Businesswire)

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