By James Regan and Charlotte Greenfield SYDNEY/WELLINGTON, Aug...

By James Regan and Charlotte Greenfield SYDNEY/WELLINGTON, Aug 24(Reuters) - Australian shares struggled to advance on Wednesday as mixed earnings reports offset a boost from firmer mining and bank stocks.

The S&P/ASX 200 (xjo) was up just 0.01 points at 5,555.0 at 0224 GMT.

Ardent Leisure Group (AAD) surged as much as 19 percent after unveiling a 32 percent rise in annual profit. Ardent profited from rising numbers of Chinese visitors to its theme parks and the successful rollout of U.S. family entertainment centres.

Air carrier Qantas (QAN), which posted a record annual profit, was 2.6 percent firmer. It also declared its first final dividend in eight years.

But retail and resources conglomerate Wesfarmers Ltd (WES), Australia's No.1 company by sales, was down 3 percent after recording its worst net profit in 15 years.

Miners BHP Billiton (BHP) and Rio Tinto (RIO) were modestly higher, helped by firmer base metals prices.

New Zealand's benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index (nz50) edged down 8.7 points or 0.1 percent to 7,458.56 as investors took a pause after five consecutive sessions of gains.

A2 Milk (ATM) led losses, down 6.5 percent, on profit taking after the stock had gained strongly ahead of the company's full-year results. The results released on Wednesday showed A2 Milk's revenue was up more than 120 percent, in line with expectations.

Comvita (CVT) continued to edge down, losing 2 percent after the natural health products company said in its full-year results released the previous day that regulatory changes in China might slow demand in its key market.

Power company Mercury NZ (MCY) lost 1.1 percent while freight company Freightways (FRE) fell 0.8 percent.

Retirement village operator Metlifecare (MET) rose 5.1 percent after it announced its full-year net profits were up 86 percent.