“There’s been more green on the [trading] screen than red, and that’s important. But markets are still quite volatile, weighed down by the tariffs uncertainty and slowing growth forecast in the US,” Solly said.
The ANZ-Roy Morgan Consumer Confidence index fell four points to 93.2 in March, with declines across nearly all components.
“While it’s still trending higher, it’s fair to say it’s making hard work of it,” said ANZ chief economist Sharon Zollner.
She said “the economy is improving under the hood, but we’re at the very early stage where it doesn’t feel like it. That’s because both unemployment and business failures, the human face of recessions, continue to lift”.
“Retailers are telling us things are less dire, and our card spending data concurs, but it’s clearly still tough times out there. Until the labour market and housing market turn definitively higher, consumers are likely to remain in a cautious mood.”
Gentrack, which provides specialist software including billing solutions for energy and water companies and airports, rose $1.12 or 10.84% to $11.45 on trade worth $8.37m.
Gentrack has posted a new job for an analyst to work with Bulgaria’s largest energy supplier and distributor with more than four million customers.
Solly said Gentrack has not confirmed the contract, which would be worth millions of dollars, and if it’s real, it would be a good win.
“They have put the job ad up and it’s out in the public for all to see.”
Contact Energy increased 35c or 4.05% to $8.99; Ebos Group was up 49c to $37.89; a2 Milk gained 7c to $8.80; and Chorus added 10c to $8.11.
Market leader Fisher & Paykel Healthcare was down 52c to $33.65; Mainfreight decreased $1.05 to $63.20; Restaurant Brands declined 9c or 2.43% to $3.61; and NZME shed 3c or 2.48% to $1.18.
Sky TV was up 1c to $2.41 after announcing it will be the exclusive New Zealand broadcast partner of Six Nations and Gallagher Premiership rugby for the next eight years.
Hallenstein Glasson was up 1c to $8.25 after reporting revenue of $240.03m, up 7.7%, and steady net profit of $21.1m for the six months ending February 1. The transtasman retailer is paying an interim dividend of 24.5c a share on April 17.
Glassons Australia increased sales by 15.8% to $123.9m with net profit up 9% to $11.8m; New Zealand sales were steady at $57.3m with profit up 18% to $6.7m; and Hallensteins’ sales were flat at $58.8m with a 43.6% fall in profit. Online sales were now 17.7% of total revenue.
Gross margin decreased slightly from 58.9% to 58.5% because of the challenging New Zealand retail environment over the peak trade period, creating a continued focus on operating cost efficiency.
Hallenstein Glasson said group sales increased 5.4% for the first seven weeks of the second half compared with the previous corresponding period but margin remained under pressure as the New Zealand retail market continued to be subdued.
“We remain well placed as this recovers.”
AFT Pharmaceuticals was down 6c or 2.26% to $2.60; Winton Land declined 4c or 2.01% to $1.95; Heartland decreased 2c or 2.53% to 77c; Blackpearl Group shed 5c or 6.1% to 77c; and Tourism Holdings was down 6c or 3.26% to $1.78.
Green Cross Health was up 2c or 2.67% to 77c; Cooks Coffee gained 1.5c or 5.77% to 27.5c; Santana Minerals collected 2.5c or 4% to 65c; and New Talisman Gold Mines added 0.008c or 9.3% to 9.4c.
Accordant Group was up 0.005c to 38c after telling the market full-year revenue will be down 23%, with advertised jobs across New Zealand falling 17% during the past 12 months.
