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ASB Securities Morning Brief for Thursday, 18 February 2010
New Zealand Headlines Fletcher Building posted a 10.5% decline in first-half earnings on lower sales of steel and laminates and said full-year profit will be eroded by weak commercial construction... Read more Fletcher Building could once again hit the acquisition trail.... Read more Ports of Auckland lifted first-half profit by 49% after reining in costs, reducing debt and generating funds from the sale of Queens Wharf... Read more Hundreds of thousands of people may not know who is managing their KiwiSaver money because of problems with getting their addresses correct.... Read more The New Zealand dollar held above 70 US cents as markets sentiment for the trans-Tasman currencies was bolstered by the prospect of further rate hikes by Australia's central bank... Read more Financial services firm and takeover target Axa Asia Pacific Holdings' New Zealand 2009 full-year operating earnings were down by 18 per cent to $35.1 million as funds under management fell, the company said yesterday... Read more Independent directors of Cynotech Holdings found "limited appeal" in chairman Allan Hawkins' proposal to take the diversified company private, even though its NZX listing hasn't provided much benefit... Read more Vector has joined other corporates in sponsoring the New Zealand Shareholders Association in a two-year deal... Read more Contact Energy's electricity and gas customer numbers rose by 3,500 in January, suggesting the company's efforts to stem the tide of defections since late 2008 are starting to work... Read more Almost a third of businesses have sacked a supplier in the past year because they did not meet their environmental or ethical standards, research suggests... Read more Standard and Poor's have announced its credit ratings for Fisher and Paykel Finance, PGG Wrightson Finance and Manchester Unity.... Read more Accounting firm KPMG expects this to be the year of consolidation amongst non-bank deposit takers, after a dismal 2009 when the sector racked up more than half a billion dollars worth of losses... Read more Many managers are reviewing their investment strategies post global credit crisis are deciding to return to passive investment and government bonds, but this is wrong, a well-regarded manager says... Read more Unintended consequences of a tax change in 2008 will cost the privately owned New Zealand oil and gas explorer Greymouth Petroleum an unexpected $10 million on a $30 million Chilean venture, a tax adviser representing the company in select committee hearings said... Read more ING Medical Properties Trust took a swipe at the government's proposal to eliminate tax write-offs for depreciating buildings... Read more A proposed overhaul of the New Zealand financial reporting framework to align reporting and assurance requirements more closely with those in place internationally, would affect hundreds of thousands of entities across the country.... Read more Pizza chain Domino's has reported a 39.2 per cent increase in first half net profit after strong sales and upgraded its guidance for the full year... Read more National went into the 2008 election campaign promising to serve up a high-fibre diet of broadband to the masses, an initiative it said would boost productivity and the country's international competitiveness... Read more New Zealand Experience, operator of Rainbow's End theme park, reported a $572,000 profit in the six months to December 31, down 3 per cent on last year.... Read more Brian Fallow. Beware. There is a risk that radical legislation, gravid with constitutional danger, will be smuggled into the statute book disguised as a measure to relieve business of vexatious red tape... Read more Daily Sharechat. Australia-based Harvey Norman, which has 33 New Zealand stores, produced "surprisingly strong" Australian sales growth of 6.8% in its second quarter, particularly since the previous December was boosted by the Australian government's stimulus handouts... Read more NZ Market Report. New Zealand shares rose, led by Australia & New Zealand Banking Group, after the UK's Barclays Plc posted earnings that beat estimates, and US manufacturing strengthened, helping spur a global rally... Read more
Australian Headlines Australian Market Report. Australian shares surged 2.2 per cent today, the biggest one-day gain in two and a half months, led by banking stocks as investors digested recent strong profit figures... Read more Shares have surged strongly, consolidating a reporting season-led recovery from the market's slump last month... Read more Westfield has posted its second consecutive loss after the value of its global property portfolios took another big hit from the global financial crisis... Read more The move by Axa Asia Pacific to slash costs heading into the global financial crisis have paid dividends as it returned to profit.... Read more A Woolworths executive has been sacked over an alleged kickback scheme.... Read more Thirsty drinkers in Australia and the Pacific help push Coca-Cola Amatil's full-year earnings to a record $449 million as it prepares for a push into the alcohol sector... Read more One of the country's biggest investment houses has closed its major mortgage fund which holds $850 million... Read more Transurban defends its rejection of a $6.8 billion bid from Canadian pension funds late last year... Read more Blood plasma and pharmaceuticals giant CSL has smashed forecasts with a 23 per cent rise in first-half profit on strong sales of its swine flu vaccine and has tipped full-year profit to be at the upper end of guidance... Read more Brambles has blamed a modest fall in first-half profit on subdued operating conditions in its key markets of the US, Britain and Spain... Read more Biota Holdings yesterday reported a surge in net profit, driven by royalties from a product that combats swine flu... Read more Kerry Stokes has injected $7 million into his West Australian iron ore play, and mining giant Rio Tinto has hired experts to assess it... Read more Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has backed his Communications Minister Stephen Conroy over a meeting with Seven network boss Kerry Stokes, challenging the opposition to back up its claim of corruption... Read more The resources industry has urged the federal government to rule out a new tax on big miners including Rio Tinto Ltd and BHP Billiton Ltd which would make them among the world's most heavily taxed... Read more Macquarie Group, Australia's top investment bank, will trade physical cargoes of crude and all refined oil products, tactically focused on markets that give the best yields, a top official said... Read more Macquarie Group remains in the running to acquire part of the Royal Bank of Scotland's Sempra commodities business even though rival investment bank JP Morgan bought the bulk of the operations this week... Read more People who invest their super in industry funds are almost $80,000 better off than retail consumers at the end of their working lives, a report says... Read more Arrow Energy has flagged a $750 million float of its international coal seam gas business in either Singapore or Hong Kong... Read more ConnectEast Group is seeing traffic and revenue growth as the ramp-up of the EastLink tollway in Melbourne continues... Read more The Reject Shop has posted a 22 per cent rise in first-half profit on higher sales following the opening of 23 new stores... Read more Ansell has raised its full-year earnings guidance after a strong rebound in first-half sales... Read more Coffee chain Starbucks cut its operating losses in Australia by more than 90 per cent last year after closing down more than three-quarters of its stores around the country, but only remains in business through the support of its US parent company... Read more Financial planner Count Financial says it is not concerned by consolidation among its larger competitors... Read more Dexus Property has reported a standard interim result with few surprises and a forecast uplift in second-half earnings, thanks to improved office rentals and a repositioning of its business in the United States... Read more A Central Coast retiree faces the forced sale of her modest fibro house after regulators froze $426 million in superannuation and investments in Albury-based fund manager Trio Capital.... Read more Pizza chain Domino's Pizza Enterprises says online orders account for almost 30 per cent of sales in Australia... Read more Listed Perth-based internet service provider iiNet is expected to update the market on its plans to offer internet television.... Read more Private equity firm Compass Capital Partners will re-launch the troubled appliance Kleenmaid brand by opening clearance centre this weekend... Read more Wine company Australian Vintage has reported a $10 million first-half net profit.... Read more Adele Ferguson. The prospect of big, fat taxes get the blood boiling and suggestions of a resources rent tax has raised hackles, the latest Investor Pulse survey has found... Read more John Durie. The Coca-Cola chief could teach Foster's a thing or two, if he doesn't go in for the kill... Read more Malcolm Maiden. The earnings upgrade that AXA AP detailed yesterday could justify an extension of the takeover price battle... Read more David Symons. On the market's strongest day of the year so far, up 100 points yesterday, the domestic healthcare sector's torrid week continued... Read more Ian McIlwraith. It seems that so much straw is being spun into gold by Australian companies as they try anxiously to present their half-year results in a better light, that Rumpelstiltskin is well and truly out of a job... Read more Stephen Bartholomeusz. This week's update from Westpac on its first quarter performance underscores a transformational change in the way the bigger corporates are financing themselves... Read more Alan Kohler. Australian politicians are disgracing themselves daily in parliament. But as long as foreign investors don't notice, there are plenty of reasons for Australian stocks to keep rising... Read more Andrew Main. If you thought Guinness Peat Group's decision on Monday to crank up its offer for agribusiness group Tandou by 3c a share is going to mean a bit of excitement, you might need to get out more... Read more
International Headlines U.S. Market Report. An updated report of the latest action on Wall Street... Read more World Market Report. An updated report of the worlds' latest market movements... Read more Japanese carmaker Toyota mulls a recall of the world's best-selling car, the Corolla, as it also denies any cover-ups... Read more Toyota President Akio Toyoda said he has no plans to appear before a U.S. Congressional committee next week... Read more Greece defends a controversial deal with Goldman Sachs that may have masked the extent of its budget woes... Read more A few weeks ago, a distinctive delegation was spotted in the financial quarter of Athens: bankers from Goldman Sachs were escorting a high-powered team from the investment group run by John Paulson, the American hedge fund guru, around meetings with Greek officials and analysts.... Read more Foreign demand for US Treasury securities fell by a record amount in December as China purged some of its holdings of government debt, the US Treasury department said... Read more Wednesday marked the one-year anniversary of the U.S. stimulus bill, and from here on out the pace of spending should pick up, according to administration officials... Read more Industrial production in the U.S. rose more than anticipated in January as factories churned out more consumer goods and business equipment, leading the recovery of the world's biggest economy... Read more Developed economies will fail to fulfil aid pledges made five years ago at the Gleneagles summit, the OECD says... Read more China sold a record amount of U.S. debt, raising speculation it is turning bearish as President Barack Obama increases borrowing to unprecedented levels to sustain economic growth... Read more The Bank of Japan will probably refrain from expanding its lending and asset-purchase programs today, preserving policy ammunition in case deflation deepens and the government increases pressure for more action... Read more Microsoft Corp. President Stephen Elop is preparing for the biggest shakeup to the $19 billion Office business in a decade as the company races Google Inc. to sell Internet-based programs... Read more Apple Inc.'s iPhone has more applications than any other mobile phone. Now the world's wireless companies are trying to catch up.... Read more Dubai World will present a proposal to creditors in March to restructure about $22 billion of debt after its advisers complete valuing the assets of the state- owned company, a person close to the Dubai government said... Read more Publishing company Reader's Digest, famed for its magazine of the same name, has gone into administration in the UK, putting 117 jobs at risk... Read more The French bank BNP Paribas has said that it made a profit in the three months to December last year... Read more
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