A2 Milk’s shares jumped into the land of milk and honey and rose almost 10% after the infant formula company revealed it had lifted its annual net profit by 52%, despite “challenging” market conditions.

Net profit attributable to shareholders for the year ended June 30 rose to $122.6 million from $80.7m the previous year. 

The company also told the market it would buy back up to $150m of its own shares.

The S&P/NZX 50 index fell 101.3 points, or 0.87%, to 11,506.94. Turnover on the main board was $95.5m.

Peter McIntyre, an investment adviser at Craigs Investment Partners, told BusinessDesk that A2’s earnings were a “quality result” that was much better than the market expected.

“All in all, the revenue was well ahead of expectations,” he said.

The infant formula company’s shares were up 9.7% to $6 by the end of the day – with more than $11.6m in value traded and the share price up 53 cents from Friday.

There was a sparkle in jewellery chain retailer Michael Hill's eye today after the company’s shares jumped 10% in early morning trading, off the back of its positive full-year results. The result was despite an ongoing battle against the restraints and difficulties covid-19 has thrown at the company over the past two years.

The Brisbane-based jewellery chain reported a net profit of A$46.7m (NZ$52.4m) in the 12 months ended June 26, up 13.9% from the previous period.

By early evening, Michael Hill shares were up 4.3% to $1.21.

McIntyre said the jewellery retailer's positive results meant that “quite a few” people must have got married in the last year.

Restaurant Brands fell 4.8% to $8.14 after it delivered a weaker first-half profit thanks to significant global inflationary pressures eating into the company’s margins.

The company, which operates KFC, Pizza Hut, Carl’s Jr and Taco Bell franchises, reported a net profit for the six months to June 30 of $15.3m, down 55% from $43.5m in the same period last year.

KMD Brands, which recently rebranded from Kathmandu Holdings, announced today that its full-year results for the 12 months ended July 31 will be revealed to the market on Sept 20. The clothing retailer’s shares fell 0.9% to $1.07 by the end of the day.

Carpet manufacturer Bremworth also rolled out a net profit of $2.2m for the 12 months to June, up 29.5% on the $1.7m for the comparable period. The company’s shares were down 6.7% to 56 cents in very light volume.

Precinct Properties was down 1.5% to $1.32. The real estate investment company told the NZX it had received formal notification today from the Ministry of Defence that it doesn’t approve the sale of Defence House. 

The ministry is the occupier of the house and doesn’t want it sold to the Precinct Pacific Investment Limited Partnership set up by Precinct.

Global cinema software provider Vista Group fell 1.6% to $1.85 after it reported a $17.8m first-half net loss – but told shareholders that moviegoing was reviving after the covid pandemic cinema shutdowns.

Import and export software company TradeWindow rose 2.9% to 70 cents in light volume after it announced it plans to expand its reach into Southeast Asia and build on recent sales agency agreements in the Philippines and Thailand.

TradeWindow chief executive AJ Smith said the agreement was a “further step” in the company’s ongoing strategy to forge deep connections in the extensive cargo eco-systems across Asia.

On the currency front, the NZ dollar was sitting at 61.13 US cents at 3pm today, down from 62 US cents on Friday.