Stocks to watch: AMP Office, F&P Appliances, Freightways

Friday 30th October 2009

The following stocks may be active on the New Zealand exchange after developments since the close of trading yesterday.

Themes of the day: Shares advanced on Wall Street and in Europe after figures showed the American economy expanded in the third quarter, emerging from its worst downturn in more than 70 years. The US dollar weakened after the figures and commodity prices rose.

AMP NZ Office Trust (APT): The property investor is rated ‘accumulate’ by Forsyth Barr analyst Jeremy Simpson, according to the ShareChat website. The company is benefiting from lower interest costs as a result of its capital raising and the payment of back rent that had been delayed by negotiations over rentals. The shares fell 1 cent to 83 cents yesterday.

Fisher & Paykel Appliances (FPA): The manufacturer said it will take an impairment charge of $70 million to $75 million against its assets in North America, reflecting the impact on trading of the prolonged downturn in demand.The charge would be taken against the company’s first-half results. The shares were unchanged at 63 cents yesterday.

Freightways (FRE): The courier and logistics firm fell 4.8% to $3 yesterday after managing director Dean Bracewell told shareholders that the economic recovery was still “fragile” and without positive, organic growth, “the express package and business mail division’s near-term performance will continue to track below the prior year”.

Pyne Gould Corp. (PGC): The investment group’s Perpetual Asset Management unit yesterday announced it had established its Torchlight Credit Fund with a $75 million facility for South Canterbury Finance. Perpetual CEO John Duncan said the deal was “a great example of the opportunity that is out there for a specialist credit fund like Torchlight,” providing funding that was too difficult for banks. Perpetual is putting $15 million of seed capital into Torchlight. The shares were unchanged at 43 cents yesterday.

Sky Network Television (SKT): Chief executive John Fellet held off on giving guidance, saying he wants more evidence of the economic recovery. The shares were unchanged at $4.75 yesterday

Businesswire.co.nz

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