Freightways was the first to report yesterday, warning that it was operating in a "very challenging operating environment in New Zealand".
The challenging environment included rising fuel costs and negative organic volume growth.
Despite the challenges, the company increased its operating earnings by 9% to $68.5 million for the year ended June 30.
Revenue was above $300 million for the first time, coming in at $324 million.
Forsyth Barr broker Ken Lister said the trend of earnings reports last week was for analysts to downgrade companies as they collectively take a more cautious view of the near-term economic outlook.
The results due this week of PGG Wrightson, Sky Network Television, Tourism Holdings, Auckland Airport and Main-freight would be interesting.
"The important barometer will be their outlooks - what's been the impact of high oil prices, a strong NZ dollar and an economic recession in the US and Europe on Auckland Airport and Tourism Holdings? Has discretionary spending impacted on Sky TV subscriber numbers?" Mainfreight's result, due on Thursday, would be a good barometer of the state of the economy.
The fortunes of every company reporting this week would be dependant on a continued easing in interest rates, a falling crude oil price and continued weakening in the NZ dollar, Mr Lister said.
To date, seven companies completed reporting for the August-September season, with mixed results.
NZX, Property for Industry, Steel and Tube and Opus International Consultants performed above most expec-tations.
At an operating profit level, Abano Healthcare and Telecom performed in line with expectations.
The key result came from Fletcher Building, which reported a 13.1% increase in operating earnings.
Mr Lister said Auckland Airport was likely to report in-creased operating earnings for the year, thanks to growth in non-aeronautical revenue.
Robust domestic passenger growth was likely to reflect new capacity and competition and the continued strength from the key Australian travel market and parts of Asia.
However, a softer domestic passenger growth and retail spending outlook due to weak domestic economic conditions could have a negative affect on the company's balance sheet.
Higher interest and depreciation costs, given the expanded asset base and higher cost of funds, could also hurt.
"Auckland Airport is a quality long-term investment story, given its control of New Zealand's major tourism gateway, New Zealand's longer-term tourism growth outlook and its large holdings of 'strategic' land."
However, the near-term remained challenging due to the impact of the strong dollar on visitor arrivals, regulatory uncertainties and the slowing domestic and global economy, Mr Lister said.
