Sharechat Logo

Firm start by NZ sharemarket

Friday 4th February 2011

Text too small?

Shares in farming services company PGG Wrightson rose in early trading after news of a possible second bidder, while Tourism Holdings fell sharply after advising the market of a "sudden and severe" revenue drop last month.

PGG Wrightson (NZX: PGW ), the subject of a partial takeover bid by shareholder Agria, today said it had been approached by another "bona fide potential bidder" and had agreed to a request from the party to carry out due diligence.

Shares in the company opened up 4c, but within a few minutes the gain had been cut to 2c, taking the share price to 57.

Tourism Holdings (NZX: THL ) shares were down 14c, or 19%, to 60 early, after the company said it did not expect to be in compliance with banking covenants in the March 2011 quarter, and cut its full year forecast to a $4 million loss from a $2.5 million net profit previously forecast.

A severe and sudden drop in revenue intakes - forward bookings - during the key January booking month had created significant uncertainty for the rest of the financial year, THL said.

The broader market started the day firmly, with the benchmark NZX-50 index up 10.13 points to 3360.02 around 10.15am, having slipped 2.4 points yesterday.

Among leading shares, Telecom (NZX: TEL ) gained 3c to $2.23, and Fletcher Building (NZX: FBU ) lifted 4c to $7.95, but Contact Energy (NZX: CEN ) fell 3c to $6.19.

Sky TV (NZX: SKT ) rose 2c to $5.35, and NZ Refining Co (NZX: NZR ) added 2c to $4.95, while Sky City (NZX: SKC ) was down 2c to $3.35.

In the US, stocks ended near session highs, with investors favouring shares of retailers after encouraging chain-store sales raised confidence.

Based on the preliminary data, the Dow Jones industrial average gained 0.2% at 12,062.18, the Standard & Poor's 500 Index was up 0.2% at 1307.10, and the Nasdaq Composite Index was up 0.2% at 2753.88.

 

NZPA



  General Finance Advertising    

Comments from our readers

No comments yet

Add your comment:
Your name:
Your email:
Not displayed to the public
Comment:
Comments to Sharechat go through an approval process. Comments which are defamatory, abusive or in some way deemed inappropriate will not be approved. It is allowable to use some form of non-de-plume for your name, however we recommend real email addresses are used. Comments from free email addresses such as Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail, etc may not be approved.

Related News:

SML - Synlait Milk Limited - Trading Halt of Securities
AIA - Auckland Airport announces board chair changes
AIA - Auckland Airport announces board chair changes
CEN - Tauhara commissioning progress update
FPH initiates voluntary limited recall
March 28th Morning Report
KFL Celebrates 20 Years of Excellence in Investment Mgmt.
SVR - Savor FY24 Earnings Guidance & Change in Banking Partner
NZK - NZ King Salmon Investments Limited FY24 Results
March 27th Morning Report