“It was a great start to the reporting season. I’m feeling good about the local reporting – I think the results will be solid and stable, and companies will prove to be more resilient than people may have thought,” Lister said.
T&G Global reports its half-year financial result on Friday, and Lister said most of the big companies would report over the next two to three weeks.
Cinema software management company Vista Group was up 4c to $2.51 after reporting its global market share has increased from 46% to 48% following the return of Cinemex’s 312 sites from a competitor.
Vista upgraded its full-year revenue guidance to $179m-$184m (previously $176m-$182m) after increasing first-half revenue 12.2% to $86.3m. Recurring revenue of $80m was up 14%.
Operating earnings (ebitda) increased 24% to $12.4m compared with the same period last year, and there was a bottom-line loss of $1.5m. The full-year ebitda margin remains on track at 18-20%.
Vista said the latest Spider-Man: A Brand New Day movie attracted about US$355m (NZ$603.1m) at the North American box office over the weekend – and together with the screening of The Odyssey, it will probably be the largest ever domestic box office weekend.
Lister said the direction of markets was still hampered by the Middle East situation and the volatility of the global tech and chipmaking stocks.
“We were hopeful the US-Iran war would last two weeks, then a month or six weeks. Five and a half months later, we are still talking about it. Investors need to see something concrete in the Middle East.
“It’s good to see oil down again but we also need to see it sustained.”
Brent Crude oil was trading at US$83.55 a barrel, down 5%, after US President Donald Trump called off another round of military strikes on Iran, raising renewed hopes that a diplomatic route to reopening the Strait of Hormuz could be found.
Local stocks
Back home, ASB said the improvement in business and consumer confidence in July was a welcome development given the geopolitical backdrop and moves in the oil price.
“Whether we see a continuation in August remains to be seen in this highly uncertain environment – and responses did sour as the month (of July) progressed,” ASB said.
The ANZ-Roy Morgan Consumer Confidence index was up 8 points in July to 99.3 in July – 8 points lower than its January peak but also 19 points off the April low.
The net proportion of households thinking it’s a good time to buy a major household item increased another 4 points to minus 7, but still subdued.
Fisher & Paykel Healthcare was up 46c to $41.15; Spark increased 6c or 3.13% to $1.98; Port of Tauranga gained 22c or 2.72% to $8.32; Freightways added 15c to $14; and Skellerup collected 11c to $7.06.
Vulcan Steel gained 25c or 4.03% to $6.45; Air NZ was up 1.5c or 3.61% to 43c; Sanford added 13c or 1.93% to $6.88; Comvita increased 2.5c or 3.40% to 76c; and KMD Brands improved 7c or 3.87% to $1.88.
Fellow retailer Michael Hill was down 1.5c or 3.57% to 40.5c, and Briscoe Group gained 6c to $4.66 after reporting slightly stronger second quarter sales of $193.4m, up 0.25% on the previous corresponding period.
First-half group sales increased 0.79% to $374.2m – sporting goods was up 4.8% – and net profit is expected to be at least $27m compared with $29.3m for the same period in the previous year. Online sales grew by $1.5m or 2.07%.
In the property sector, Goodman NZ increased 6c or 3% to $2.06; Kiwi was up 2c or 2.15% to 95c; Vital Healthcare Property Trust gained 3.5c or 1.85% to $1.92; and Investore was down 3c or 2.82% to $1.03.
In the technology sector, Blackpearl Group rebounded 5.5c or 12.36% to 50c; Gentrack was up 7c or 1.94% to $3.68; Eroad gained 2c or 2% to $1.02; and TradeWindow declined 0.006c or 4.05% to 14c.
Ebos Group was down 50c or 2.27% to $21.54; Seeka decreased 10c or 2.02% to $4.85; and Bremworth declined 2.5c or 3.6% to 67c.
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