Stocks to watch: Burgers, books and banks in the limelight

Tuesday 15th June 2010

A number of smaller listed companies made announcements yesterday which impact on trading today. Burger Fuel is still finding it tough, CBS - which is in merger talks to form a bank - released its annual accounts and Jasons Travel posted its results. Telecom still remains the large cap stock getting the most attention.

Themes of the day: Moody’s downgraded Greece’s credit rating to junk in an anticipated move, while the euro rose 1% to US$1.2234 on a report showing Europe’s industrial production increased in April more than forecast. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.4%, while the FTSE 100 gained 0.7%. Overnight the kiwi fell to US$0.69.56 from US$0.6966, though it briefly, for the first time in four weeks, popped over 70 cents.

Burger Fuel (NZX: BFW ): The hamburger chain yesterday posted a narrower full-year loss of $552,983, from $710,282 a year earlier and said the latest shortfall reflected start-up costs of its operations in the Middle East and further investment in the Australasian market. It said trading conditions are “difficult” heading through 2010 though sales are rising in Australia and New Zealand. The shares last traded on June 11 at 30 cents and have dipped 35% this year.

CBS Canterbury (NZX: CBS ): The nation’s only listed building society, which is in talks to create a bank with Southern Cross Building Society and Pyne Gould, posted an annual profit of $1.9 million, from a year-earlier loss of $3.48 million. Chairman Gary Leech said the result was below desired levels but “still very positive given market conditions.” The NZAX-listed shares last traded at $3 on June 3. Pyne Gould (PGC) was unchanged at 44 cents yesterday.

Horizon Energy (NZX: HED ): Marlborough Lines yesterday announced a stand in the market for up to 10.1% of Whakatane-based Horizon at $4.15 apiece, marking the third offer to minority shareholders in the past 12 months. Horizon shares jumped 23% to $4.16 yesterday.

Jasons Travel (NZX: JTM ): The travel guides company yesterday reported a 4.2% increase in sales to $ 14.6 million, while profit dropped to $889,000 from $1.2 million, matching a company forecast. The drop-off reflected reduced contribution from its local guides, which were hurt by “changes in discretionary advertising spend by our customers.” The stock last traded at 46 cents on June 9.

PGG Wrightson (NZX: PGW ): South Island-based meat processor Silver Fern Farms yesterday announced the closure of two operations in Canterbury, citing a drop in the number of lambs available for slaughter. Wrightson, the nation's biggest rural services company, fell 3.6% to 54 cents yesterday.

Telecom (NZX: TEL ): Shares of the company fell 1.6% to $1.88 yesterday amid reports that Crown Fibre Holdings had finished assessing bids to participate in the government’s broadband rollout, which could see rival companies given the nod to lay fibre in competition with Telecom’s existing network.

Businesswire.co.nz

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