Stocks to watch: AFF, ALF, INS, NZX, PPP, POT

Monday 14th June 2010

Themes of the day: Government figures today may show New Zealand retail sales fell 0.2% in April, excluding motor vehicles. Total sales were probably unchanged after rising 0.5% in March.

Wall Street ended up on Friday after late gains, with the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index rising 0.4%. The kiwi dollar rose to the highest in almost a month, trading above 69 U.S. cents.

Affco (NZX: AFF ): The North Island meat company was untraded at 37 cents on Friday pending a full takeover by Talley’s at that price. The closely held food, fishing and dairy investor tightened its grip on the meat company after gaining conditional agreement to buy out a fellow shareholder, Toocooya Holdings, a diversified private investment group whose owners include New Zealand's Spencer family. The announcement hasn't been too well received by investors - more feedback here

Allied Farmers (NZX: ALF ): The finance company said on Friday that it has a conditional buyer for the second stage of the Five Mile development near Queenstown, that’s north of the $23.2 million valuation as at Dec. 31. The shares rose 6.4% to 5 cents on Friday.

Insured Group (NZX: INS ): The company said it expects to gain NZX and other regulatory consents by June 30 for a prospectus to raise $10 million through ordinary and convertible preference shares. It is also in advanced discussions with various parties about selling some assets. Trading revenue for the year ending June 30 is expected to increase 10% from last year’s A$10 million though costs of its reverse takeover of Lombard will result in “a moderate loss.” The stock trades infrequently and was last at 0.6 cent.

NZX (NZX: NZX ): The stock exchange operator sank 5.1% to $1.50 on Friday, the biggest decline on the NZX 50. The company “does not get the market’s confidence in the same way it has 2-3 years back,” with questions about its overall strategy, said Stephen Walker, portfolio manager at Devon Funds Management.

Pan Pacific Petroleum (NZX: PPP ): The operator of the Tui field, AWE, said wireline logging is still in progress at the Tui SW-2 exploration well. Wireline evaluation of the previously reported oil shows in the top of the F Sand has established that an economic accumulation of oil is not present at the Tui SW-2 location, it said. Shares of PPP, which owns 10% of the field, fell 1 cent to 27 cents on Friday. NZ Oil & Gas (NZX: NZO ), with 12.5%, rose 2 cents to $1.43.

Port of Tauranga (NZX: POT ): The nation’s biggest export port on Friday raised its full-year earnings guidance by as much as 11%, citing a “strong” increase in volumes. Normalised net profit in the year ending June 30 will be $49 million to $50 million, chief executive Mark Cairns said. That exceeds consensus of $47 million. The upgrade is “as a result of the strong increase in volumes, particularly over the last quarter,” Cairns said. The shares climbed 3.8% to $6.80 on Friday.

Businesswire.co.nz

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