[ad_1]
The sharemarket weakened as the local earnings season comes to a close, prompting investors to reshuffle their portfolios.
The benchmark S&P/NZX 50 Index fell 0.5%, or 56.94 points, to 11,878.71 on Tuesday. On the broader market 50 stocks rose and 78 fell with $147 million shares traded.
The US and the UK markets were closed for holidays on Monday.
“There wasn’t really a lot of news flow about today,” said Greg Main, a director at Jarden. “There were a couple of little results out but all the big ones have been out and it just looks like maybe a little bit of portfolio shuffling.
“It’s been a pretty quiet day.
“We didn’t get any direction out of the US or the UK so it was just a bit more of an internal focus. I think people just probably took a chance to digest and look at the numbers again, and do a bit of rebalancing.
“Everyone will be looking at just tweaking their portfolios a little bit.”
Among the bigger stocks, Fletcher Building fell 2.5% to $5.05, Ebos slid 2.3% to $41.55, Mercury shed 1.7% to $6.22, Goodman Property Trust dropped 1.4% to $2.17, Spark slipped 0.7% to $5.25, Auckland International Airport lost 0.8% to $8.74, and Fisher & Paykel Healthcare fell 0.5% to $24.32.
Transport and logistics firm Mainfreight gained 2.2% to $70, Meridian Energy advanced 0.1% to $5.445, and Ryman Healthcare Group rose 2.3% to $6.28.
Retailers generally gained, with Briscoe Group up 1.2% to $4.40, The Warehouse Group up 2.5% to $1.67, Michael Hill up 2% to $1.04, and Hallenstein Glasson Holdings up 0.8% to $6.10. KMD Brands bucked the trend, down 1.8% to $1.09.
STUFF
Video and images from January 27 and 28, 2023 show the extent of the damage caused by flooding after a severe weather event in Auckland.
Among those reporting their profits on Tuesday, retirement village operator Arvida Group posted a 59% drop in profit to $82.5m in the 12 months to the end of March.
The company said profit was impacted by a lower gain in the value of its investment properties of $80.4m, compared with a gain of $158.9m the previous year, due to softer near term growth rates and pricing assumptions, as well as flood-related impairment to its Parklane village in Auckland.
The company’s Parklane village experienced surface flooding to part of the community grounds in January’s floods.
As a result, 39 of the 99 villas were flood damaged, as well as the serviced apartment building and community centre. Some 49 residents were displaced from their homes and resettled to other local Arvida communities, with their family or in short-term rental accommodation.
An initial assessment has estimated $14.1m of material damage from the flood. The company said it has received insurance proceeds of $6.3m for material damage and business interruption.
A remediation provision of $12.7m was included in its financial statements and the company said Parklane’s value was written down by $22m to reflect the flood damage.
Its Mary Doyle village in Havelock North experienced a power, internet and phone outage lasting several hours during Cyclone Gabrielle but there was no physical damage to the property, it said.
On an underlying basis, which strips out one-time items and changes in the value of properties, Arvida’s profit rose 20% to a record $88m, the company said.
Its shares advanced 0.9% to $1.14.
The company will pay shareholders a final dividend of 2.35c, taking the full-year dividend to 4.85c from 5.5c the previous year.
“There has been heightened investor concern on the level and funding of sector dividends,” chairperson Anthony Beverley said in the company’s annual report.
“We recognise we have a large number of retail shareholders on our share register who appreciate regular dividend payments. Our challenge, as we grow, has been to set a sustainable dividend policy where regular dividend payments to our shareholders are funded from the cash flows derived from operations.”
Until Arvida’s cash flow profile matures, and taking into consideration market sentiment, the board expects dividend payments were likely to be at the bottom end of the revised payout range of 30% to 50% of underlying profit, he said.
“This will ensure a better matching of stable free cash flows to distributions,” Beverley said.
[ad_2]