“It certainly put a dampener on expectations for the housing market, and the problem is that two or three-year mortgage rates are starting to drift up again,” he said.
Unusual volume on hotel shares
Millennium & Copthorne Hotels NZ, with 19 hotels around the country, declined 27c or 7.56% to $3.30.
Goodson said there was an unusual volume in Millennium (2.7m shares worth $8.9m), and “one presumes the buyer is the principal owner.
“They tried to take the company over earlier last year but failed and stated they would not make another takeover bid for nine months, from April 22. That standstill has expired and maybe they will be coming back with an offer of $3.30 a share.”
CDL Hotels Holdings NZ, owned by Singapore-listed City Developments, has an 83.9% shareholding in Millennium & Copthorne Hotels NZ.
City Developments last year made the takeover at $2.80 a share but the offer didn’t pass the 90% threshold for shareholder support.
Goodson said the latest buying, if it is the principal owner, would take the shareholding into the mid-88%.
F&P Healthcare up
Amongst leading stocks, Fisher & Paykel Healthcare was up 21c to $38.91 on trade worth $36.16m; Infratil gained 20c or 1.84% to $11.08; Summerset increased 24c or 2.12% to $11.57; and Briscoe Group added 9c or 1.84% to $4.99.
Ryman Healthcare decreased 5c or 1.77% to $2.78; Tourism Holdings was down 9c or 3.38% to $2.57; Vista Group declined 8c or 4.12% to $1.86; and Eroad shed 5c or 4.1% to $1.17.
Colonial Motor increased 20c or 2.45% to $8.37 after upgrading its half-year gross profit to at least 30% ahead of the comparative six months, instead of 20%.
Chorus, up 2c to $9.50, reported fibre connections increased 7000 in the December quarter to a total of 1.129m. The growth offset a decline of 6000 copper lines in the Chorus fibre areas and fibre uptake is now 72.4%.
Fibre use in December was the highest ever at 699GB, Chorus told the market.
Spark edged up 1c to $2.26 after completing the sale of a 75% interest in its data centre business to Pacific Equity Partners, receiving initial proceeds of $453m with a deferred payment of up to $98m depending on performance-based objectives by the end of December 2027.
The data centre assets have been transferred to a new standalone company, TenPeaks Data Centres, with Spark having two directors, chief executive Jodie Hodson and chief financial officer Stewart Taylor.
TradeWindow was down 3c or 10.34% to 26c after reporting a softer-than-expected third quarter driven by weaker volumes from major primary exporters and a later export season for many customers.
Trading revenue was up 22% to $7m for the year to date, and TradeWindow revised its full-year revenue guidance to $9.6m-$9.9m, from $10m-$11m. Annual recurring revenue was up 17% to $9.3m at the end of December compared with the previous corresponding period.
Miners dip
Miners Santana Minerals fell 9c or 6.79% to $1.23, and Manuka Resources was down 4c or 14.81% to 23c as the gold price slipped 1.57% to US$5221.73 an ounce.
New Talisman Gold Mines declined 0.003c or 13.64% to 1.9c after telling the market it has an agreement with Ocean Partners UK to buy its gold concentrate until the end of April.
The gold miner is finalising a more refined drilling and mining plan with a focus on better optimising the use of its teams when on site. With the final plan comes an expected capital raise to underpin the next phase of operations.
New Talisman said the underground workings appeared to be unaffected by the January flooding in the Karangahake Gorge but there were minor washouts, fallen trees and a blocked culvert near the site.
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