The Australian Stock Exchange (ASX) hit a fresh 10-year high this morning, following the record-breaking result on Friday, although print companies have not fared as well as the general market, with mixed results between the listed print and packaging outfits.
Between January 1 and June 30 the ASX rose by three per cent, although it has risen 10 per cent since the lows of April. Print and packaging business by contrast mainly suffered falls, although Wellcom kept pace with the market and IVE rose by five per cent. The main bright spot was the big outdoor infrastructure companies which grew by up to 20 per cent.
Amcor, the packaging giant, saw its stock price fall from January 1 to June 30, going from $15.26 to $14.41, a trend that was also true for Fairfax, falling from $0.78 to $0.75 in the same period and News Corp, falling from $21.58 to $21.10.
Orora grew from $3.39 to $3.65 as it installed the country’s first EFI Nozomi short run digital carton press, while Pro-Pac Packaging fell from $0.44 to $0.37, with the news it bought Perfection Packaging and PolyPack Auckland coming after the end of the financial year.
IVE rose from $2.17 to $2.29, it has been on a steady climb since it was at $2 in November last year.
The worst-faring company of the second half of the financial year was PMP, which almost halved its stock price from $0.52 to $0.28.
There were some strong results though, particularly in the outdoor segment of print, as APN and oOh!media both boosted their share prices in the half year, with APN growing from $4.93 to $6.28, and oOh! rising from $4.31 to $4.95.
Both were boosted at the end of the financial year by announcements of acquisitions, with oOh! acquiring Adshel, and APN being purchased by French-signage company JCDecaux.
Redbubble also had a small growth, from $1.53 to $1.57, with Wellcom also faring well, boosting to $4.40 from $4.24
Paper merchant Spicers kept its share price steady at $0.04.
It should be noted that a large part of the ASX record breaking run can be attributed to the current high price of commodities, with much of the Australian economy depending on its exports of coal, and gas.
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