NZX CLOSE: Shares gain; Infratil, F&P Appliances, NZS advance

Monday 29th March 2010

New Zealand shares rose, pushing the NZX 50 Index up for a fourth session, as Infratil Ltd. agreed terms for the acquisition of assets from Shell New Zealand and Fisher & Paykel Appliances reported progress slashing debt.

The NZX 50 rose 10.62, or 0.3%, to 3251.10. Within the index, 28 stocks rose, 13 fell and nine were unchanged. Turnover was $78 million.

Infratil (NZX: IFT ) rose 1.8% to $1.68 after the Wellington-based investment group said had teamed up 50/50 with the New Zealand Superannuation Fund to acquire Shell’s downstream petro-chemical assets for $696.5 million.The purchase includes a 17% stake in New Zealand Refining, Shell’s chain of petrol stations, truck-stops, aviation and marine fuel supply facilities, and a 25% stake in the FlyBuys customer loyalty programme.

“Infratil have done a good job in getting people prepared for the announcement – there’s a reasonable understanding” of the deal, said Shane Solly, portfolio manager at Mint Asset Management. “The market’s decided on the day that they seem to have acquired it (the assets) at a reasonable level.”

“The fact is that assets are coming back to domestic owners and there’s more of that occurring,” he said. “As international companies exit them, New Zealand-listed companies are in the right position” to buy local assets.

F&P Appliances (NZX: FPA ) gained 1.7% to 61 cents after the appliances manufacturer said net debt had tumbled more than 60% allowing it to secure new terms for its bank funding. Debt will have dropped to less than $200 million at March 31 from more than $500 million in May 2009.

NZ Farming Systems Uruguay (NZX: NZS ) climbed 5.3% to 40 cents after the developer of dairy farms in South America said it sold 2,500 hectares of land on its Tobay farm in eastern Uruguay for US$8.5 million, allowing the company to repay nearly half an outstanding debt to shareholder PGG Wrightson, New Zealand’s biggest rural services company, which was behind the establishment of Farming Systems.

Wrightson (NZX: PGW ) was unchanged today at 58 cents.

Pan Pacific Petroleum (NZX: PPP ) rose 6.5% to 33 cents, leading the NZX 50 higher, as the price of crude oil rose. Crude advanced as plans to provide financial aid to Greece and optimism over the global economic growth helped polish the appeal of raw materials. New York crude edged up 0.6% to US$80.49 a barrel during Asia’s day.

Renaissance (NZX: RNS ), the IT and Apple products distributor, jumped 15% to 23 cents after forecasting higher sales and profit. The company also released details of a long-term incentive plan for new chief executive Richard Webb and chief financial officer Shaun Rendell which will only be maximized if the stock soars to $2 over the next three years.Webb said he is “absolutely” confident the shares can rise that much.

“The fact of life is that being an intermediary, third party shifting boxes is not the future,” Webb told BusinessWire. “The future is adding value to the process, so we’re introducing a whole range of applications.”

Rubicon (NZX: RBC ), the biotech and forest products investment company, was unchanged at 90 cents after completing its $21 million capital raising, which will allow it to repay debt.

Among other stocks, jeweller Michael Hill International fell 2.8% to 69 cents, the biggest decline on the NZX 50 today. Guinness Peat Group fell 1.2% to 86 cents and Sky City Entertainment Group dropped 1.2% to $3.22.

Businesswire.co.nz

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