NZX 50 lifts 0.5%; Metroglass cracks as Eroad climbs

The benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index rose 0.52% to 12,911.86, with 29.8 million shares changing hands worth over $105.5m.

Paul Robertshawe, Octagon's chief investment officer, said volumes were subdued as the market prepared for earnings season, which will kick off on Tuesday when PGG Wrightson reports full-year earnings.

Robertshawe noted that Fonterra Shareholders’ Fund shares were trading at five-year highs, up another 1.84% to $7.18.

He said rumours that French company Lactalis is the main bidder for the cooperative's soon-to-be spun-out consumer business had helped sentiment.

“New Zealand dairy is still in demand, which is good and bad for them. It's an input cost for the consumer business, but generally good for farmers and their cooperative members.”

Infratil continued its solid run since mid-June, gaining 1.77% to $7.67. The infrastructure investor traded at under $10 as recently as April.

Takeovers, small caps

Metro Performance Glass shares fell by a cent to 4 cents after the glass supplier unveiled its plan to shore up its finances and secure new banking facilities

The company has agreed a deal with Amari Metals for the latter to take a 51% stake in the company following its proposed recapitalisation.

The equity raise combines an $8.9m pro-rata rights offer with an additional placement to Amari Metals of up to $15m. Both tranches are priced at 3 cents per share (cps).

Metroglass said an independent report by Grant Samuel concluded there were “no viable alternatives”. 

Also on the takeover front, Vital’s board urged investors to accept Tait Communication’s takeover offer, warning the deal could collapse if the 90% minimum acceptance condition is not met before the mid-September deadline.

In June, Tait Communications, a Christchurch-based critical communications systems provider, made a formal offer to purchase NZX-listed Vital for 45cps.

On Friday, the board reiterated its unanimous recommendation, urging shareholders to accept “without delay”.

Vital shares fell 3.3% to 44c, having traded above the offer price towards the end of last week.

Eroad continued its run from last week, rising 7.18% to $2.09 on Monday.

The share price for telematics and fleet management rose to a three-year high after the Government announced it would transition the light vehicle fleet to road user charges.

Earnings season

Robertshawe noted that due to continuous disclosure requirements, companies had already confessed their sins in June and July.

Subsequently, he said markets were unlikely to be too surprised by earnings reports.

“People will be looking for the quality of results. Are there abnormals? Are there provision releases? Are there one-off sale processes? That will be the key. 

“And then obviously the reporting on trading since the balance date, and what does trading look like for the first half of the 2026 financial year?”

Vista Group, which reports its half-year results on Thursday, will be the most interesting stock to watch this week, he said.  

“They hinted at a slight slowdown in uptake and migration to their new product, but it feels almost like they don't have the resources to go faster, as they've tried to hit free cash flow break-even.

"There could be an interesting announcement where they say they're going to push the company back into short-term cash flow deficits because they want to accelerate the growth to the new revenue model.”

Vista traded flat at $3.50 on volumes worth nearly $1.5m.