Small New Zealand companies which have opted to list only on the Australian stock exchange would have been better off staying local, a study by an investment firm suggests.
ASX (file photo) Photo: AFP
Woodward Partners said six small-to-medium sized New Zealand companies had listed only on the ASX over the past two years, and all had significantly underperformed compared to the NZX's small companies' index by between 24 and 123 percent.
Managing director Neville Todd said the moves to Australia had been costly.
"The decision to take an ASX-only listing has been at the considerable expense of their shareholders and the performance of each of these companies has been very poor in comparison to the performance of the NZX Small Cap Gross Index."
Many of the companies that opted for Australia were small technology-related stocks, which have said Australian investors have been better informed and more enthusiastic about their businesses.
But Mr Todd said there was plenty of investment capital in New Zealand with the growth in KiwiSaver funds.
"This is where their networks are and they have an advantage of being listed where suppliers, customers, staff and others in the investment community are based and already know them."
"Directors and management considering listing on a public exchange to help them raise capital should firstly be considering their home exchange on the NZX," he said.
The NZX has been criticised by some investment companies for not doing enough to attract local start-up companies, and being too expensive and too rule bound.