Stocks to watch: GPG, NEW, NZO, NZX, PRC, PGC, STH

Stocks to watch: GPG, NEW, NZO, NZX, PRC, PGC, STH

July 6 (BusinessWire) – The following stocks may be active on the New Zealand exchange after developments since the close of trading in the last session. All prices are in New Zealand dollars unless specified.

Themes of the day: The Quarterly Survey of Business Opinion is out this morning, providing a clue to companies’ hiring and investment intentions and price expectations. Wall Street was closed on Monday for the Independence Day holiday, setting a subdued tone for the domestic market. NZX data today showed both trading volumes and value on the bourse fell last month.

Guinness Peat Group PLC (GPG): The investment group’s sacking of director Tony Gibbs was somewhat unusual as his restructuring plan was simply to do what chairman Ron Brierley has been promising to do for two years, said ASB Securities analyst Florian Burch in ShareChat. “Going by the shape of the board’s initial proposal and by the reasons it gave for dismissing Mr Gibbs’ proposal, it now appears the chairman’s promises bore little chance of being kept in a foreseeable timeframe,” he said. Gibbs has at least achieved partial success with the board deciding to appoint three independent directors to lead the restructuring Burch said. Its shares were unchanged yesterday at 65 cents.

New Image Group Ltd. (NEW): The manufacturer of colostrum-based health tonics said yesterday that sales dropped 17% last financial year, mainly reflecting the impact of a strong kiwi dollar. It predicts a pick-up in 2011 sales on demand from Asia. Unaudited revenue was $81.7 million in the 12 months through June 30, down from $98.1 million a year earlier, it said. The shares last traded on July 1 at 31 cents.

New Zealand Oil & Gas Ltd. (NZO): The energy exploration and production company announced yesterday that production from the Tui oilfield is forecast to drop 2 million barrels to 2.8 mmb's in the year ended June 30, 2011. Output would be cut by 300,000 barrels because of an extended shut-down at the Pateke-3H well, it said. The shares fell 0.8% yesterday to $1.23.

NZX Ltd. (NZX): The value of trading on the NZX dropped 24% last month, while total trades declined 18%. Year to date, some $610 million of new equity was raised and $1.18 billion of debt, according to the NZX’s latest monthly operating data. The stock rose 10 cents to $1.56 yesterday, when the company announced a buyback of 2.9% of its stock, saying the company is undervalued, and a decision to pay dividends every six months rather than annually.

Pike River Coal Ltd. (PRC): The coal miner climbed 3.5% to 89 cents yesterday after Banpu, Thailand’s biggest coal producer, agreed to acquire the rest of Australia’s Centennial Coal Co. for A$2 billion. The deal put a 40% premium on Centennial, which was creating interest in Pike, said Grant Williamson, a director at Hamilton Hindin Greene.

Pyne Gould Corp. (PGC): The company’s cornerstone investor, George Kerr, raised $150 million for Torchlight Fund No.1 LP, a fund that will seek opportunities in the wake of banks restricting credit to businesses and individuals. The fund could rise by a further $20 million following reserved allocations. The shares rose 5.3% to 40 cents yesterday.

Southern Travel Holdings Ltd. (STH): The travel booking company yesterday announced the appointment of Saumil Kapadia as chief financial officer and company secretary effective July 5. The shares last traded at 10 cents on May 18.

(BusinessDesk)

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