Stocks to watch: Restaurant Brands, Telecom, NZO, MCK, CCC, PFI

Monday 19th April 2010

Restaurant Brands shares rise to their highest close since June 1997 and NZ Oil and Gas sinks amid early signs that Hoki-1 looks dry. Telecom's credit rating is cut to A- by Fitch and Millennium & Copthorne executives head to China to sort out JV mess.

Restaurant Brands (NZX: RBD ): The fast food franchise company rose 2.2% to $2.31 on Friday the highest close since June 1997, when the company's share began trading on the NZX. "The results they are posting are pretty good," said Paul Harrison, a fund manager at BT Funds Management. "They seem to have the ability to improve store returns by reformatting their stores" and maintaining tight management controls.

Telecom (NZX: TEL ): The company's credit rating was cut one notch to A- by Fitch ratings on Friday, a day after Telecom lowered its earnings guidance for the next three years and forecast higher than expected capital spending. The shares were unchanged at $2.18 on Friday.

New Zealand Oil & Gas (NZX: NZO ): The oil company announced on Friday that its 10%-owned Hoki-1 well showed no signs of hydrocarbons as it approached its targeted depth. The oil company’s shares fell 3.1% to $1.56 on Friday.

Cavotec MSL Holdings (NZX: CCC ): The company said in its quarterly report that it is looking ahead with “cautious optimism” and expects 2010 to be a year of recovery, “culminating in an overall stronger position for 2011 and beyond.” The shares fell 4 cents to $2.81 on Friday.

Millennium & Copthorne Hotels (NZX: MCK ): The hotel investor’s shares dropped 6.7% to 42 cents on Friday as senior executives said they are heading to China next week to get directly involved in overturning a series of unauthorised asset sales by a rogue local executive that have gutted the hotel company's joint venture.

Property for Industry (NZX: PFI ): The industrial property investor posted a net loss of $3.42 million in the first quarter, from $3.44 million a year earlier. So-called distributable profit jumped 18% to $4.69 million. Rentals in the first three months of the year rose 3.2% to $$8.2 million. The shares were unchanged at $1.16 on Friday.

Economic themes of the day: Government figures tomorrow will probably show inflation accelerated in the first quarter, helping investors gauge the timing for the central bank's interest rate increases.

Shares dropped on Wall Street and Europe on Friday after the US Securities and Exchange Commission sued Goldman Sachs Group for fraud over the sale of collateralised debt obligations.

The UK and Germany have indicated they are also looking at the sales.

Businesswire.co.nz

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