Source: Radio New Zealand
The business outlook seems to be improving, Amova Asset Management’s head of equities said. (File photo) 123RF
The last week of the corporate reporting season is underway with more than 20 companies yet to report their results to the December 31 balance date.
The past week saw reports from some of the biggest companies including Auckland Airport, Spark, Fletcher Building, SkyCity and A2 Milk, which met or beat market expectations, with positive outlooks.
Amova Asset Management head of equities Michael Sherrock said the sentiment was helped by the Reserve Bank of New Zealand holding the official cash rate at current levels and indicating it would hold steady for the rest of the year.
“We are reassured in the fact that things aren’t getting worse. The outlook is improving,” he said.
“And so I think there’s no sort of lush lawn growing. It’s just starting to sprout. And all of the bits and pieces are in place for a recovery as we move through the year ahead.
“We’re starting to see that come through the likes of Freightways.”
Contact Energy kicked off the reporting season last week with a positive outlook, with plans to raise more than half a billion dollars to invest in three large scale renewable energy projects.
Sherrock said the rest of the three big power companies Meridian, Mercury and Genesis, were also expected to report strong results this week, in line with Contact’s.
He said the market was also expecting to see strong results from the agricultural sector, following a positive update from apple exporter Scales, which lifted its full year underlying profit to between $61m and $62m.
He said Sky TV would be watched to see if it delivered on plans to pay a 30 cents a share dividend this year.
Other companies yet to report included tourism firms, Tourism Holdings, Air New Zealand, industrial and infrastructure services sector companies, Port of Tauranga, Channel Infrastructure and Chorus.
In addition to Scales, agri-sector firms PGG Wrightson and T&G Global will be reporting, along with manufacturing firms Vulcan Steel and Steel & Tube,
The market would also see results from property firms Property for Industry, Precinct Properties and Summerset Retirement Villages, and others representing a number of sectors including banks Heartland and KiwiBank, healthcare and petfood firm EBOS, media firm NZME, tech firm Vista Group and many others.
Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
