J B Were & Son tops secret trading figures

By Nicholas Bryant

Friday 14th July 2000

For the first time in seven years Credit Suisse First Boston has missed out on the number one spot in annual New Zealand Stock Exchange trading figures for having the greatest value of trades.

The statistics for the year to June 30, show Auckland-based firm J B Were topped the rankings.

The NZSE figures reveal J B Were had 18% of the market, making just over $4.5 billion worth of trades and ranked second for contract notes (representing the number of trades) with 79,000.

Credit Suisse First Boston dropped to second overall and ranked third for contract notes.

Fifth-ranked firm, Wellington-based Ord Minnett Securities, won the race for most trades with 81,000 contract notes but represented smaller deals with a total trade value of about $1.7 billion less than J B Were.

The Stock Exchange figures are not publicly released.

While similar statistics are freely available to brokers and the public in Australia, this Stock Exchange printout was leaked to The National Business Review.

Brokers receive the data on 23 broking firms with only their own firm's ranking identified.

The ranking of the others is left blank though the numbers are provided for them to work out.

Brokers said the practice was needlessly secretive but the NZSE maintains it is necessary.

The deals that put J B Were & Son in the top slot were the purchasing of INL shares for Craig Heatley, Todd Corporation and Telecom; the transaction involving TransAlta stock and Natural Gas Corporation and AGL; and the placement of large parcels of Sky TV shares.

J B Were also topped the Greenwich Associates Report (NBR, April 7), which gauges the performance of fund managers and brokers.

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