New Zealand Professional Investment Services Firm, Forsyth Barr

Forsyth Barr

New Zealand Professional Investment Services Firm

We are proud to be a New Zealand owned firm, with 21 offices throughout the country and over 300 employees. We assist personal, institutional and corporate clients providing a full range of investment services.

Forsyth Barr is a foundation New Zealand Exchange firm (NZX) and accredited market participant. We have been confirmed by the Financial Markets Authority as a Qualifying Financial Entity (QFE).

Research is the cornerstone of our advice. We have one of New Zealand's leading teams of analysts. Our global affiliations ensure comprehensive research coverage of all major investment markets.

Equity Bottom-Up

Spark NZ 1H22 Preview&nbsp;— Steady Progress

OUTPERFORM
Spark (SPK) reports its 1H22 result on Wednesday, 23 February. SPK has guided for FY22 EBITDAI of NZ$1,130m to NZ$1,160m. We are currently at the midpoint of guidance (NZ$1,142m), our key areas of interest are (1) a progress update on its strategic review of "class 3" assets (passive mobile tower assets and fibre), (2) growth in fixed wireless (FW) and potential implications from Chorus (CNU's) NZ$60/month budget fibre plan, and (3) comments in relation to mobile roaming revenue expectations ahead of borders reopening.&nbsp;


Strategic review of passive assets&nbsp; —&nbsp;attractive but more sellers than buyers?&nbsp;


SPK announced a strategic review of its infrastructure assets at its FY21 result in August 2021, with focus on passive aspects of its mobile towers and fibre assets. Since then&nbsp;Vodafone&nbsp;NZ has announced a near identical review of its passive mobile tower assets, and&nbsp;Orcon&nbsp;(subsidiary of&nbsp;Vocus&nbsp;Group)&nbsp;and 2degrees have&nbsp;announced a merger.&nbsp;We will look for an update on the progress of this strategic review. We believe an update on the operational and business&nbsp;merits&nbsp;of a potential divestment&nbsp;will be important.&nbsp;While the potential capital release may be substantial, we believe the market is looking for more details on&nbsp;exactly who will be the incremental users of these towers.&nbsp;In&nbsp;our view&nbsp;Orcon/Vocus&nbsp;Group was a potential&nbsp;candidate, which now seems less likely given its merger with 2degrees. In&nbsp;order for a (part) divestment to&nbsp;be a positive catalyst for SPK we believe it needs to include more than cost of capital&nbsp;and/or accounting arbitrage.&nbsp;


Fixed wireless&nbsp; —&nbsp;Chorus is turning on the heat but lowered targets should be achievable&nbsp;


CNU has stepped up its effort to combat the growth of FW with a wholesale upgrade of 100Mbps fibre plans to 300Mbps plans with an unchanged price. CNU is also launching a new entry level 50Mbps plan with a retail price cap at NZ$60/month in direct competition with FW. SPK has lowered its target for growth in FW to 15–20k connections for FY22 (from 40k expected in FY21, which wasn't achieved). We believe this target is quite conservative, but will look for an update on how, if at all, SPK believes CNU's initiatives have impacted its ability to grow FW connections. We expect FW ARPUs to be largely flat after a year of declining ARPU.&nbsp;


The return of roaming coming closer


While we appreciate that SPK will have limited to add with respect to when/how inbound and outbound tourism will return, we believe a gentle reminder of what it would entail for SPK could be a positive.&nbsp;SPK commented at its FY21 result&nbsp;that the loss of roaming cost it NZ$31m in revenue (from an already depressed FY20 level).&nbsp;We estimate that a&nbsp;full return to&nbsp;pre-pandemic roaming revenues could drive&nbsp;mobile&nbsp;service revenues growth up high single digits in FY23 vs our current estimates of just over +5% with high incremental gross margins of &gt;60%.&nbsp;


Spark NZ: 1H22 Preview — Steady Progress

Pan-Asia Catalysts/Events, Quiddity Advisors

Travis Lundy

Pan-Asia Catalysts/Events

Quiddity Advisors

Index Rebalance

<ul>
<li>
<a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/hochtief-ag" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:21652:1" rel="noopener">Hochtief AG (HOT GR)</a> has finally launched an unconditional offer for the rest of <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/cimic-group-ltd" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:20030:1" rel="noopener">CIMIC Group Ltd (CIM AU)</a> (where it already owns 78.58%).</li>
<li>As <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/profiles/david-blennerhassett" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="accounts:840" rel="noopener">David Blennerhassett</a> writes in <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/insights/hochtief-s-unconditional-offer-for-cimic" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="insights:65774" rel="noopener">Hochtief's Unconditional Offer For CIMIC</a>, this should be a done deal. Completion would free up a place in the S&amp;P/ASX200.  </li>
<li>This looks to be one of the earlier Q2 intra-quarter changes, but there are technicalities.</li>
</ul>



Hochtief AG (HOT GR) has finally launched an unconditional offer for the rest of CIMIC Group Ltd (CIM AU) (where it already owns 78.58%).
As David Blennerhassett writes in Hochtief's Unconditional Offer For CIMIC, this should be a done deal. Completion would free up a place in the S&amp;P/ASX200.  
This looks to be one of the earlier Q2 intra-quarter changes, but there are technicalities.


Pan-Asia Index Rebalances/ Events/ Delta One, Periscope Analytics

Brian Freitas

Pan-Asia Index Rebalances/ Events/ Delta One

<ul>
<li>Hang Seng announced the results of the March rebalance post market close Friday. Two adds for the HSI, one set of changes for HSCEI, three sets for HSTECH.</li>
<li>An ad hoc rebalance was announced for the KOSDAQ150 following Osstem being designated an 'Administrative Issue'. In IPO world, we have LIC in India and SBI Sumishin NetBank coming up.</li>
<li>Friday was the review cutoff date for the March rebalance of the ASX200 Index. The ATO has provided Aventus with the tax ruling and that creates a timing issue.</li>
</ul>


Hang Seng announced the results of the March rebalance post market close Friday. Two adds for the HSI, one set of changes for HSCEI, three sets for HSTECH.
An ad hoc rebalance was announced for the KOSDAQ150 following Osstem being designated an 'Administrative Issue'. In IPO world, we have LIC in India and SBI Sumishin NetBank coming up.
Friday was the review cutoff date for the March rebalance of the ASX200 Index. The ATO has provided Aventus with the tax ruling and that creates a timing issue.


Index Rebalance & ETF Flow Recap: HSI, HSCEI, HSTECH, HSCI, S&P/ASX, SET50, LIC, SBI Sumishin, Crown

HomeCo Daily Needs REIT / Index Rebalance

<ul>
<li>When the <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/aventus-group" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:25897:1" rel="noopener">Aventus Group (AVN AU)</a> / <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/homeco-daily-needs-reit" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:33526:1" rel="noopener">HomeCo Daily Needs REIT (HDN AU)</a> Scheme was announced four months ago, it looked to complete in late January or very early February. </li>
<li>Because of an ATO staff shortage, the Second Court Hearing was delayed by nearly three weeks, pushing implementation back. The calculation of S&amp;P/ASX index rankings may not be as expected.</li>
<li>Most or all of the AVN downweight is covered by a HDN upweight next Wednesday but whither ASX200 in March?</li>
</ul>


When the Aventus Group (AVN AU) / HomeCo Daily Needs REIT (HDN AU) Scheme was announced four months ago, it looked to complete in late January or very early February. 
Because of an ATO staff shortage, the Second Court Hearing was delayed by nearly three weeks, pushing implementation back. The calculation of S&amp;P/ASX index rankings may not be as expected.
Most or all of the AVN downweight is covered by a HDN upweight next Wednesday but whither ASX200 in March?


The Weird Ways of the Aventus/HomeCo Daily Needs Index Rebalances (ASX200)

<ul>
<li>There could be 2 changes to the ASX100 and ASX200 prior to the March rebalance due to the acquisitions of <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/ausnet-services" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:10293:1" rel="noopener">Ausnet Services (AST AU)</a> and <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/sydney-airport" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:19063:1" rel="noopener">Sydney Airport (SYD AU)</a>. </li>
<li>There will also be the large <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/bhp-group-ltd" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:147:1" rel="noopener">BHP Group (BHP AU)</a> upweight and funding trade following unification, and possibly the <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/afterpay-limited" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:26940:1" rel="noopener">Afterpay Touch (APT AU)</a> acquisition by <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/square-inc" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:23755:1" rel="noopener">Square Inc (SQ US)</a>. </li>
<li>Then there will be more changes to the ASX200 and ASX300 at the March rebalance. There could be a lot of new listings included in the ASX300.</li>
</ul>


There could be 2 changes to the ASX100 and ASX200 prior to the March rebalance due to the acquisitions of Ausnet Services (AST AU) and Sydney Airport (SYD AU). 
There will also be the large BHP Group (BHP AU) upweight and funding trade following unification, and possibly the Afterpay Touch (APT AU) acquisition by Square Inc (SQ US). 
Then there will be more changes to the ASX200 and ASX300 at the March rebalance. There could be a lot of new listings included in the ASX300.


ASX100/​200/300 Index Rebalance Preview (March 2022): A Lot Happening From Now to March

New Zealand

Spark New Zealand Limited (formerly Telecom Corporation of New Zealand Limited) provides digital communications, entertainment and IT services over its networks and the Cloud to New Zealanders and businesses. The Company's strategy is focused on mobility, data and effortless service, and cost.

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Spark New Zealand (SPK NZ)

Spark NZ: 1H22 Preview — Steady Progress

Spark NZ1H22 Preview — Steady Progress OUTPERFORM Spark (SPK) reports its 1H22 result on Wednesday, 23 February. SPK has guided for FY22 EBITDAI...

Forsyth Barr

CIMIC (CIM AU) Replacement in ASX200

CIMIC's takeover by Hochtief triggers another index change in ASX200 - likely sometime in April. This brings forward the first intra-quarter ASX200...

Travis Lundy

Index Rebalance & ETF Flow Recap: HSI, HSCEI, HSTECH, HSCI, S&P/ASX, SET50, LIC, SBI Sumishin, Crown

This recap highlights Insights covering Asian index rebalances (announcements/ forecasts/ IPO Fast Entry/ M&A driven changes). We also highlight...

Brian Freitas

The Weird Ways of the Aventus/HomeCo Daily Needs Index Rebalances (ASX200)

Aventus and Homeco Daily Needs now have the last doc/approval needed to proceed with their merger. The last day of trading for Aventus is 23 Feb....

Travis Lundy

ASX100/200/300 Index Rebalance Preview (March 2022): A Lot Happening From Now to March

There will be many changes to the ASX100/200/300 indices from now to March due to M&A activity & price moves. Plus a large funding trade following...

Brian Freitas

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Spark NZ: 1H22 Preview — Steady Progress

Spark NZ1H22 Preview — Steady Progress OUTPERFORM Spark (SPK) reports its 1H22 result on Wednesday, 23 February. SPK has guided for FY22 EBITDAI...

Forsyth Barr

CIMIC (CIM AU) Replacement in ASX200

CIMIC's takeover by Hochtief triggers another index change in ASX200 - likely sometime in April. This brings forward the first intra-quarter ASX200...

Travis Lundy

Index Rebalance & ETF Flow Recap: HSI, HSCEI, HSTECH, HSCI, S&P/ASX, SET50, LIC, SBI Sumishin, Crown

This recap highlights Insights covering Asian index rebalances (announcements/ forecasts/ IPO Fast Entry/ M&A driven changes). We also highlight...

Brian Freitas

The Weird Ways of the Aventus/HomeCo Daily Needs Index Rebalances (ASX200)

Aventus and Homeco Daily Needs now have the last doc/approval needed to proceed with their merger. The last day of trading for Aventus is 23 Feb....

Travis Lundy

ASX100/​200/300 Index Rebalance Preview (March 2022): A Lot Happening From Now to March

There will be many changes to the ASX100/200/300 indices from now to March due to M&A activity & price moves. Plus a large funding trade following...

Brian Freitas

ASX100/200/300 Index Rebalance Preview (March 2022): A Lot Happening From Now to March