MARKET CLOSE: NZ shares slip; Warehouse down after result, PGC gains

New Zealand shares fell, as Warehouse Group posted weaker first-half operating earnings and forecast a flat full year. Pyne Gould Corp. advanced after its Marac unit gained admissions to the extended guarantee scheme.

The NZX 50 Index fell 1.69, or 0.1%, to 3225.13. Within the index, 21 stocks declined, 15 rose and 12 were unchanged. Turnover was $81.8 million.

Warehouse (NZX: WHS ) dropped 1.5% to $3.86, second only to Rakon (NZX: RAK ) among decliners today. The retailer posted a 17% gain in first-half profit, though this mainly reflected costs in the year-earlier period that weren’t repeated. Full year earnings, adjusted, wouldn’t rise from 2009 levels.

“They appear to be struggling to get any sales growth at all,” said Stephen Walker, portfolio manager at newly formed Devon Funds Management, which Paul Glass acquired from Goldman Sachs JBWere. Stocks may “range trade” until investors see evidence of recovery, he said. The earnings season “had no nasties among stocks we care about."

Michael Hill International (NZX: MHI ),  the jewellery chain that counts Australia as its biggest market, fell 1.4% to 73 cents. Rakon fell 2.9%.

Wakefield Health (NZX: WFD ) gained 3.4% to $7.24. The private hospital operator is bidding for control of Grace Hospital in Tauranga. The company is also expanding its Bowen Hospital site in Wellington. The Tauranga purchase comes after a long search by the company, which has ample strength of its balance sheet and commitments for 51% of Norfolk, which owns Grace.

Pyne Gould Corp (NZX: PGC ) rose 2.1% to 48 cents, the biggest gain on the NZX 50 today, after announcing that its Marac unit, which has ambitions to become a bank, has been accepted into the extended guarantee scheme, the first finance company to gain admittance.Goodman Fielder rose 2.1% to $1.97 and Auckland International Airport climbed 1.6% to $1.97.

Businesswire.co.nz

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