Stocks to watch: AIA, CCC, FBU, LME, OGC, PGW, PPG, SKC

Stocks to watch: AIA, CCC, FBU, LME, OGC, PGW, PPG, SKC

Feb. 21 (BusinessDesk) – The following stocks may be active on the New Zealand exchange after developments since the close of trading. All prices are in New Zealand dollars unless specified.

Themes of the day: Investors will again be focusing on the half-year reporting season, with a spate of companies set to deliver their results particularly towards the end of the week. The BusinessNZ Performance of Service Index numbers for January are due today. December's figures showed that while the service sector was in expansion relative to November, it was flat when compared to the same month in 2009, with employment and inventories still a concern. Global equities were mixed at the close last week, as Wall Street continued to rally with the Standard & Poor's 500 Index gaining 0.2% to 1343.01, while European shares retreated marginally with the Stoxx 600 falling 0.04% to 291.04.

Auckland International Airport Ltd. (AIA): The airport's interim earnings are likely to get a shot in arm from its retail operations, according to Deutsche Bank's Geoff Zame, quoted on the ShareChat website. The company's airside retail development was completed in December and the two airside duty-free stores have been operational and performing strongly. Zame said will enable the country's busiest gateway to comfortably hit is full-year earnings target for retail revenue of $105 million. The shares rose 0.8% on Friday to $2.26.

Cavotec MSL Holdings (CCC): The global engineering group said Australia's Karara Mining Ltd. has ordered 12 of its MoorMaster automated mooring units for use at their dedicated iron ore handling facility at the Port of Geraldton in Western Australia. The shares were unchanged on Friday at $3.34.

Fletcher Building Ltd. (FBU): The country's biggest construction firm extended its takeover offer for Australia’s Crane Group by 14 days while announcing that acceptances under the offer had crept up to 27.7% of the company. The shares rose 0.6% on Friday to $8.39.

L&M Energy ltd. (LME): The coal gas explorer reported that the thickness of a target seam within its Ohai pilot project is substantially bigger than anticipated based on preliminary exploration work. The company had expected to find a gas seam of between 10 meters to 15 meters when it started the first of three wells, but instead discovered a seam measuring almost 40 meters. The shares rose 15.4% on Friday to 15 cents.

OceanaGold Corp. (OGC): The Macraes and Reefton mine operator reported an 18.5% decline in net profit, as higher costs of sales, the stronger New Zealand dollar and the closing of its hedging contracts eroded gains from higher gold sales. The miner reported a net profit of US$44.4 million for the 12-months to Dec. 31, compared with US$54.5 million in 2009. Revenue was US$71.8 million in 2010, up from 40.4 million. Gains from undesignated hedges fell to US$16.2 million in 2010 compared with US$58 million in the previous year. The shares fell 3.8% on Friday to $3.85.

PGG Wrightson Ltd. (PGW): The rural services group announced that a second unnamed bidder for the company has dropped out, citing "strategic reasons specific to themselves". On Feb. 4 the bidder approached the company saying it was interested in a complete takeover pending a due diligence report, although no details were released. Wrightson is currently facing a partial takeover offer from Singapore's Agria Corp. and China's New Hope Group, who are looking to acquire a 38.3% stake at 60 cents apiece in the company which would give them a majority shareholding. The shares were unchanged at 57 cents on Friday.

Postie Plus Group (PPG): The clothing retailer reported a 4.6% rise in half-year sales compared to the same period a year ago, with same store sales also up by 4.6%. The company remained cautious on the sales outlook for the second half of the year, which typically brings in higher revenues, citing the inconsistency of trade recently. The shares rose 7.4% on Friday to 29 cents.

Sky Network Television Ltd. (SKT): The pay TV operator reported a 19% jump in net profit to $60.4 million for the six months to Dec. 31 on the back of the success of its MySKY HDi decoder service and a rebound in advertising sales. That about met earnings expectations of brokerage Forsyth Barr. Advertising revenue jumped 26.9% to $31.1 million in the six months ended December compared with the same six months a year earlier while MY SKY customers numbers rose 60.3% to 231,072 between December 2009 and December 2010. The shares rose 3.1% on Friday to $5.85.

(BusinessDesk)

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