First NXT-listing G3 may quit the small-cap exchange

G3 Group is considering a plan to quit the NZX's NXT just two years after joining the market for minnows in a compliance listing.

Auckland-based G3 today said its board had received a proposal from majority shareholder the Christian Family Trust to delist from NXT, and is considering the proposal before making a recommendation to other shareholders.

The Christian Family Trust is working with other major shareholders to finalise a privatisation plan, and has "indicated that it intends to work with the board to finalise its privatisation plan with the intention that the board present this proposal for the delisting and privatisation of G3 to its shareholders for approval at the annual shareholders' meeting to be held before 30 September 2017," chairman Rob Campbell said in a statement. "The board will carefully consider CFT's proposal and make a recommendation to shareholders when the proposal is finalised and notified to shareholders."

The mail operations and document management firm was the first company on NZX's NXT market, listing its 53.8 million shares at 75 cents apiece in a compliance listing. The shares last traded in February at 64 cents.

The company is made up of New Zealand Mail, Send, Pete's Post and Fastway Post, which provide business mail services, and Universal Mail, a UK-based tourist stamp operation. Its document management brands include Filecorp, Eureka, Formfile Records Management, Rocket Mail, Tidy Files, and the tourist collateral business added Small World Scotland in December.

In the six months to Sept. 30, 2016, G3 reported net profit rose 45 percent to $1.7 million, on a 37 percent lift in sales to $29.9 million.

Late last year, it failed in a bid to raise up to $3 million via crowdfunded equity platform Snowball Effect.

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NXT was to replace the NZ Alternative Market (NZAX) for smaller firms, but has struggled to attract small and medium-sized businesses to the bourse. At NZX's annual meeting next week, shareholders will vote on whether to elect Just Water International's Tony Falkenstein to the board.

NZX's board has recommended investors reject Falkenstein, who has spoken out against the NXT market which aimed to target high-growth companies, and said the stock market operator had become too bureaucratic and didn't do enough to encourage new listings.

NZX shares rose 0.9 percent to $1.11 today.

(BusinessDesk)