The Australian consumer price index rose 1% in July, higher than the expected 0.8% and driven by increased fuel and travel costs. Annual inflation was 3.5% instead of the forecast 3.3%, and the Reserve Bank there is now expected to hike the cash rate twice by February to 4.85%.
The S&P/ASX 200 Index was down 0.31% to 9135.8 points at 5.45pm NZ time.
At home, a2 Milk was up 20c or 2.37% to $8.65; Skellerup increased 19c or 2.6% to $7.50; Fletcher Building added 7c or 1.79% to $3.97; and Vulcan Steel rose 30c or 4.8% to $6.55.
Napier Port increased 11c or 3.11% to $3.65; Colonial Motor was up 21c or 3% to $7.20; Stride Property gained 2.5c or 2.22% to $1.15; Vista Group collected 7c or 2.51% to $2.86; and Gentrack climbed a further 14c or 3.29% to $4.40.
Scales Corp rose 37c or 5.43% to $7.19 after reporting a 105% increase in revenue to $762.14m and a 38% decline in net profit to $30.05m for the six months ending June. Operating earnings (ebitda) were $102.2m.
Global Proteins generated ebitda of $44.2m, up from $29.7m in the same period last year, and horticulture ebitda of $57.6m. Export volumes for Mr Apple are forecast to be about 3.53 million tray carton equivalents, a decrease of 4%.
Scales said the proportion of premium export apple volumes is expected to increase to 79%, up from 74%, and the company increased its full-year net profit guidance to $55m-$60m.
Robertshawe said Scales is getting great apple prices out of Asia and its protein business is kicking on. “The company is not flashy but it executes well – every year is a record season.”
Meridian Energy was down 12c or 2.14% to $5.50 after reporting a 20% decrease in annual revenue to $3.88 billion and a net profit of $130m, a big turnaround from the loss of $452m in the 2025 financial year after two severe droughts.
Meridian’s operating cash flows increased from $318m to $810m; operating earnings (ebitdaf) were $1.051b, up from $611m; and the energy margin went from $982m to $1.471b.
Meridian, the fourth-biggest local stock on market capitalisation, said it was committed to keeping the energy component of the bill for residential and small business customers below the rate of inflation over the next year.
Steel & Tube declined 4.5c or 11.11% to 36c after reporting a 13.9% increase in revenue to $438.9m and a $61.2m net loss for the 12 months ending June.
The company said the cycle was turning, but it is uneven. The positive revenue and volume trends through to the third quarter were slowed by the Middle East conflict, cost inflation and pre-election caution in the fourth quarter.
Volumes increased 15.9% to 115,261 tonnes, and the margin was up 2.6 percentage points to 30.7%. Steel & Tube is selling its reinforcing and wire assets to Euro Corporation, and plans to close seven smaller sites over the next 12 months.
Winton Land fell 9c or 6.52% to $1.29 after increasing revenue 21% to $188.84m and net profit 120% to $22.6m for the 12 months ending June. A total of 430 units were settled.
Winton chairman Steven Joyce and fellow director Guy Fergusson have resigned, effective on Monday.
Other decliners were Fisher and Paykel Healthcare down 24c to $44.66; Ebos Group shedding 25c to $22.05; SkyTV easing 6c or 1.75% to $3.36; and Serko decreasing 7c or 4.53% to $1.475.
Scott Technology increased 14c, or 5.09%, to $2.89 after announcing plans to grow the global sales of its BladeStop safety bandsaw, and appointing Aersa as its Mexican distributor.
Move Logistics, unchanged at 20c, reported a 1.5% increase in annual revenue to $290.59m and a return to profit with a net $321,000. Move said three of four business divisions delivered profit, but warehousing remained sub-par.
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