New Zealand's Smartpay rises; Bell Potter cuts PT, earnings view and downgrades to 'hold'

Smartpay Holdings

29/05/2024 01:44

** Shares of New Zealand's Smartpay Holdings  SPY.NZ  rise
as much as 1.5% to NZ$1.37, their highest since May 
    ** Analysts at Bell Potter lower price target for Smartpay's
stock to NZ$1.30 from NZ$1.76 and downgrades to "hold" from
"buy"
    ** Bell Potter reduces underlying earnings per share
estimate for the payments solutions provider by 29% for FY25 
    ** Says underlying free cash flow of NZ$0.2 mln ($122,700)
was materially lower than broker's estimate of NZ$6.8 mln
    ** Brokerage notes a 20% reduction in terminals per merchant
reduced revenue growth while customer attrition increased from
1.2% to 1.6% (monthly)
    ** Adds looking for a positive sign for attrition in the
Australian terminal fleet
    ** Avg rating of seven analysts, including Bell Potter's, an
equivalent of "buy"; their median PT is NZ$1.87 - LSEG data
    ** Stock has fallen 9.1% this year, as of last close

    ($1 = 1.6300 New Zealand dollars)

 (Reporting by Sneha Kumar in Bengaluru)
 ((Sneha.Kumar@thomsonreuters.com;))