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MIDDAY UPDATE: Regulator probes Sky TV content deals

16 May 2012 12:04pm | BusinessDesk

May 16 (BusinessDesk) – The Commerce Commission has launched a probe into Sky Network Television’s content contracts with internet service providers that may be hindering competition in New Zealand’s pay-TV market. More >>

MIDDAY UPDATE: NZ retail sales fall 1.5% in 1st quarter

14 May 2012 12:04pm | BusinessDesk

May 14 (BusinessDesk) - New Zealand retail sales fell in the first three months of the year as people reined in spending on supermarket and grocery items after a spend-up during the Rugby World Cup. More >>

MIDDAY UPDATE: Kiwis flash plastic more in April

11 May 2012 12:07pm | BusinessDesk

May 11 (BusinessDesk) - New Zealanders spent more on their credit and debit cards in April than they did in the same month a year earlier, snapping two monthly declines. More >>

MIDDAY UPDATE: BNZ 1H profit jumps 36%; NZ guest nights fall

10 May 2012 12:24pm | BusinessDesk

May 10 (BusinessDesk) – Bank of New Zealand, the local unit of National Australia Bank, reported a 36 percent jump in first half profit after widening its interest margin, lifting deposits and taking a lower charge for bad debts. More >>

From the Farm: Steam comes out of kiwi

10 May 2012 6:16am | Businesswire

The Reserve Bank's latest financial stability report paints an ugly possibility for New Zealand's rural powerhouse: "the possibility that the exchange rate stays high while commodity prices fall further." The pattern over time is for the ... More >>

MIDDAY UPDATE: Sky TV deals sap broadband uptake: Quickflix

09 May 2012 11:42am | BusinessDesk

May 9 (BusinessDesk) – Quickflix, the ASX-listed supplier of streaming and online movies and television shows, says Sky Network Television's content arrangements will hold back demand for New Zealand households to buy into the national ultra-fast broadband ... More >>

Hannah on SMEs: "Yo-Pro" the buzzword amongst my friends

08 May 2012 5:08pm | BusinessDesk

May 7 (BusinessDesk) - As member of Generation Y, I am one of the 20 somethings entering the workforce for the first time. Known for being tech-savvy, digital communication is our birthright and technology dependency an integral part of our lives. If it ... More >>

MIDDAY UPDATE: NZ government’s tax take below forecast

08 May 2012 12:10pm | BusinessDesk

May 8 (BusinessDesk) – The New Zealand government took in $1.57 billion less tax than expected in the first nine months of the fiscal year, reflecting a tepid economy, though below-forecast spending helped restrain the operating deficit, Treasury figures ... More >>

MIDDAY UPDATE: NZ dollar falls after US jobs

07 May 2012 12:02pm | BusinessDesk

May 7 (BusinessDesk) – The New Zealand dollar extended its loss after weaker-than-expected US jobs data and leadership changes in France and Greece sapped investors’ appetite for higher-yielding assets. More >>

MIDDAY UPDATE: Shearer’s pension policy; kiwi below 80 cents

04 May 2012 11:55am | BusinessDesk

May 4 (BusinessDesk) - Labour Party leader David Shearer has adopted National Party policy by promising not to resume New Zealand Superannuation Fund contributions while the government runs deficits, but wants discussion on his party’s proposals to ... More >>

From The Farm: Is Fonterra worth more?

03 May 2012 3:30pm | BusinessDesk

Reading the submissions on the proposed DIRA amendment bill, there’s a lot of old arguments, but then Fonterra has had a long time to frame its corporate restructuring. More >>

MIDDAY UPDATE: TTP worth $2.1 billion to NZ by 2025?

03 May 2012 12:26pm | BusinessDesk

May 3 (BusinessDesk) - The Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) could deliver an annual boost to the New Zealand economy of around $2.1 billion a year by the mid-2020's, according to research to a US-based research group. More >>

MIDDAY UPDATE: ANZ New Zealand boosts first-half earnings

02 May 2012 12:19pm | BusinessDesk

May 2 (BusinessDesk) - ANZ New Zealand, which operates the ANZ and National Bank brands in New Zealand, boosted its first-half underlying profit 13 percent to $684 million on fatter interest rate margins More >>

SMELLIE ON SMEs: Down so long it looks like up?

01 May 2012 3:10pm | BusinessDesk

May 1 (BusinessDesk) - Business confidence nudged a little higher in the latest National Bank Business Outlook Survey, released this week, but evidence from accounting firm Grant Thornton continues to show a hard journey for many small and medium-sized businesses. More >>

MIDDAY UPDATE: NZ wage growth slows in first quarter

01 May 2012 12:15pm | BusinessDesk

May 1 (BusinessDesk) - New Zealand's wage inflation slowed to a quarterly pace of 0.4 percent in the first three months of the year, giving Reserve Bank Governor Alan Bollard room to keep interest rates lower for a longer period of time. More >>

MIDDAY UPDATE: Home building consents at 2-year high

30 April 2012 11:58am | BusinessDesk

April 30 (BusinessDesk) – New Zealand residential building consents rose to their highest monthly level in two years in March amid growing demand for new housing in Auckland and Christchurch. More >>

MONEY TALKS: Interest rates on the way down?

27 April 2012 7:03pm | BusinessDesk

Poor old Alan Bollard. The Reserve Bank governor is certainly in for a tough time with just three more outings to tinker with the economy before he retires in September. More >>

MIDDAY UPDATE: Meridian pays $71.1M dividend

27 April 2012 12:20pm | BusinessDesk

April 27 (BusinessDesk) - Meridian Energy will pay its government owner a $71.3 million dividend on its earnings for the first half of the financial year, in line with its dividend policy of a 75 percent payout ratio. The company declared an underlying ... More >>

MIDDAY UPDATE: Petricevic gets 6 ½ years jail; OCR unchanged

26 April 2012 11:57am | BusinessDesk

April 26 (BusinessDesk) – Bridgecorp former managing director Rod Petricevic has been jailed for 6 ½ years for his role in misleading investors and knowingly making false statements in offer documents. More >>

MIDDAY UPDATE: More kiwis leave for Oz; kiwi dollar dips

24 April 2012 12:07pm | BusinessDesk

April 24 (BusinessDesk) - New Zealanders are showing no sign of losing their desire for a better life in Australia, with the annual outflow continuing at record levels in March even amid signs Australia’s economy is slowing. More >>

NZL Lasers lead Hyeres fleet

24 April 2012 10:39am | Yachting New Nealand

After the second day of racing at the 2012 Semaine Olympique Francaise Regatta, the NZL Sailing Team’s top Laser Sailors are showing their class at the front of the fleet. More >>

MIDDAY UPDATE: NZ dollar may fall in rate review week

23 April 2012 12:00pm | BusinessDesk

April 23 (BusinessDesk) – The New Zealand dollar may finish the week lower as investors push out expectations on the timing of Reserve Bank interest rate hikes because a high kiwi and modest economic recovery are keeping inflation well within the bank’s ... More >>

MONEY TALKS: The strength of good advice – a cautionary tale

20 April 2012 4:45pm | BusinessDesk

One such tragic story this week was the news that north Taranaki iwi Ngati Tama squandered almost all of its $14.5 million Treaty settlement through a blunder-fest of poor investments. More >>

MIDDAY UPDATE: Shanghai Pengxin approved as Crafar buyer

20 April 2012 12:02pm | BusinessDesk

Chinese firm Shanghai Pengxin’s controversial bid to buy 16 central North Island dairy farms has been approved by Land Information Minister Maurice Williamson and Associate Finance Minister Jonathan Coleman. More >>

MIDDAY UPDATE: 1st-Qtr CPI 0.5%; KiwiRail to sell Hillside

19 April 2012 12:11pm | BusinessDesk

April 19 (BusinessDesk) – New Zealand consumer prices rose as expected in the first three months of the year, even as the tradable sector shrank on cheaper international holidays and discounted audio-visual equipment in the face of a strong kiwi dollar. More >>

From the Farm: A global lake of milk?

18 April 2012 1:27pm | BusinessDesk

Few sectors are as susceptible to the vagaries of the weather as farming. The La Nina weather pattern that blessed New Zealand farmers with near perfect growing conditions this season is coming to an end, based on the Australian Bureau of Meteorology’s ... More >>

MIDDAY UPDATE: CERA takes control of Christchurch CBD

18 April 2012 12:04pm | BusinessDesk

MIDDAY UPDATE: CERA takes control of Christchurch CBD; Auckland city must lift operating surplus, says Moody’s More >>

SMELLIE ON SMEs: Working marriages and other minefields

17 April 2012 6:20pm | BusinessDesk

April 17 (BusinessDesk) – The world is full of family businesses. They can be the most powerfully resilient corporate entities because family members are bound to the firm by love and affection as well as the need for a job, and they’re fantastic ... More >>

Prodrive confirms two Minis for Brother Rally New Zealand

17 April 2012 5:09pm | Rally New Zealand

The Prodrive WRC Team has confirmed they will bring two Mini John Cooper Works WRC cars to compete in this year’s Brother Rally New Zealand , round seven of the FIA World Rally Championship. More >>

MIDDAY UPDATE: Bridgecorp’s Urwin jailed for 2 years

17 April 2012 11:46am | BusinessDesk

April 17 (BusinessDesk) – Bridgecorp director Gary Urwin has been jailed for two years after pleading guilty to 10 breaches of the Securities Act for misleading investors, the second of the failed finance company’s board members to be sentenced. More >>

MIDDAY UPDATE: Kiwi rises after China widens trading band

16 April 2012 12:08pm | BusinessDesk

The New Zealand dollar rose as China doubled the yuan’s trading band, signaling a move toward a more convertible currency and stoking demand for currencies that trade with the world’s most populous nation. More >>

MIDDAY UPDATE: Super-frauds set record value for NZ cases

13 April 2012 11:58am | BusinessDesk

MIDDAY UPDATE: Super-frauds help set record value for NZ cases; Insured Group wants to delist from NZX More >>

From the Farm: It’s carbon reduction, stupid

12 April 2012 6:41pm | BusinessDesk

April 12 (BusinessDesk) – Coping with ambiguity is something we often do poorly as a species, and news media find it even more difficult than individual human beings. More >>

MIDDAY UPDATE: House prices slowing, March manufacturing up

12 April 2012 12:16pm | BusinessDesk

April 12 (BusinessDesk) - The pace of gains in New Zealand’s residential property market in the first three months of this year slowed, reflecting easing values in the month of March, according to government valuer Quotable Value. National property ... More >>

SMELLIE ON SMEs: Good customer service, it’s simple

11 April 2012 1:30pm | BusinessDesk

April 11 (BusinessDesk) – Not so long ago, as a result of general incompetence, my laptop got a virus. It needed fixing, it was almost certainly because of malware picked up on the internet. Not wanting to stuff around and just needing my machine ... More >>

MIDDAY UPDATE: Urban limits keeping house prices high

11 April 2012 12:01pm | BusinessDesk

April 11 (BusinessDesk) – Urban limits imposed by local governments are keeping house prices much higher than they need to be because they make land inside the city limit costlier than outside the limit, says the Productivity Commission in its final ... More >>

MIDDAY UPDATE: New boss for TVNZ; kiwi dollar rises

10 April 2012 11:50am | BusinessDesk

MIDDAY UPDATE: NZ dollar rises on speculation of Fed stimulus; TVNZ announces new chief executive April 10 (BusinessDesk) – The New Zealand dollar rose on speculation the US Federal Reserve may introduce a third round of quantitative easing, or printing ... More >>

MIDDAY UPDATE: Bridgecorp directors found guilty

05 April 2012 12:00pm | BusinessDesk

April 5 (BusinessDesk) – The directors of failed lender Bridgecorp have been found guilty of making untrue statements in offer documents, according to media reports. Petricevic and Roest have been remanded in custody, according to reports. More >>

From the Farm: Who to believe

05 April 2012 8:16am | BusinessDesk

Nosh, the upscale supermarket chain, has become the poster child retailer for New Zealand's farming lobby. More >>

MIDDAY UPDATE: Aorangi managers seek ruling on assets

04 April 2012 12:16pm | BusinessDesk

April 4 (BusinessDesk) - The statutory managers of Aorangi Securities have sought a court ruling on the status of $60 million of assets pledged to the failed firm by Allan Hubbard and his wife, which will have a major bearing on how much investors ... More >>

MIDDAY UPDATE: MightyRiver banks $40.5M

03 April 2012 11:57am | BusinessDesk

April 3 (BusinessDesk) – MightyRiverPower has banked $40.5 million in return for the sale of a further 10 percent stake in its joint venture with the Tauhara North No 2 Trust, involving three geothermal power stations in the central North Island. More >>

MIDDAY UPDATE: Government targets loan sharks

02 April 2012 12:15pm | BusinessDesk

The government is cracking down on loan sharks, with the release of the draft Credit Contracts and Consumer Finance Amendment Bill, designed to protect consumers from irresponsible lenders. More >>

Champions steal the night light at jet sprint

02 April 2012 9:29am | Jetpro

Champions steal the night light at jet sprint season pre-final Saturday night’s penultimate round of the six round 2012 Jetpro Jetsprint Championship saw double world champions Leighton and Kellie Minnell along with Reg and Julie Smith win their ... More >>

MONEY TALKS: Getting closure on the finance company debacles

30 March 2012 5:21pm | BusinessDesk

Call me a softy, but the delight some people took in the conviction and sentencing of Sir Doug Graham was disappointing. More >>

MIDDAY UPDATE: Campbell quits Ports of Auckland board

30 March 2012 12:00pm | BusinessDesk

March 30 (BusinessDesk) - Ports of Auckland director Rob Campbell has stepped down from the board after falling out over strategy at the city-owned business, which is making heavy weather of attempting to contract out its unionised wharfies. More >>

MIDDAY UPDATE: Jail sought for Lombard 4; Fonterra profit up

29 March 2012 12:17pm | BusinessDesk

March 29 (BusinessDesk) – The four directors of Lombard Finance & Investment are waiting to see if they will receive a jail sentence in Wellington’s High Court today. More >>

SMELLIE ON SMEs: Attracting capital from cautious angels

29 March 2012 9:42am | BusinessDesk

March 28 (BusinessDesk) – Figures from the New Zealand Venture Investment Fund suggest it’s getting harder for new ventures to raise capital, with angel investors preferring either to top up existing ventures or to sit tight through tough times. More >>

From the Farm: Fonterra’s big change

28 March 2012 1:08pm | BusinessDesk

Fonterra won a mandate from its farmer-shareholders in 2009 to overhaul its capital structure. More >>

MIDDAY UPDATE: Treasury passive in early days of guarantee

28 March 2012 11:58am | BusinessDesk

March 28 (BusinessDesk) – The Treasury, charged with overseeing the retail deposit guarantee scheme that will end up costing taxpayers up to $1.1 billion, looked on passively as finance companies used the guarantee to hoover up investor funds and ... More >>

MIDDAY UPDATE: NZ dollar up; MightyRiverPower pays dividend

27 March 2012 11:55am | BusinessDesk

March 27 (BusinessDesk) – The New Zealand dollar rose after Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said an accommodative monetary policy is still needed in the world’s largest economy to stoke a stagnant jobs market, and prompted investors to seek higher ... More >>

MIDDAY UPDATE: Port strike warning on February trade figures

26 March 2012 12:19pm | BusinessDesk

MIDDAY UPDATE: Port strike warning on February trade figures March 26 (BusinessDesk) – New Zealand’s trade balance was back in surplus in February, though the government statistician warned escalating industrial action around the country may have affected ... More >>

MONEY TALKS: Getting serious on superannuation

23 March 2012 12:31pm | BusinessDesk

It’s too late for the baby boomers, but everyone else should really start getting serious about preparing for their pension. More >>

MIDDAY UPDATE: NZ dollar at 2-mth low; Woolworths warned

23 March 2012 12:07pm | BusinessDesk

March 23 (BusinessDesk) – The New Zealand dollar held near a two-month low against the greenback after figures showed weak manufacturing sectors in China and the Euro-zone, sapping demand for commodity-linked assets. More >>

MIDDAY UPDATE: NZ economy grows at half the expected pace

22 March 2012 12:23pm | BusinessDesk

March 22 (BusinessDesk) – The New Zealand economy grew at half the expected pace in the final three months of 2011 as a tepid manufacturing sector slowed the nation’s recovery. The kiwi dollar dropped on the news. More >>

From the Farm: Farmers vs state sector

21 March 2012 12:35pm | BusinessDesk

March 21 (BusinessDesk) – A regular theme from New Zealand’s main lobby group for the rural sector, Federated Farmers, is the evils of big government at every level, but especially in Wellington. More >>

MIDDAY UPDATE: Current Account shrinks more-than-expected

21 March 2012 12:07pm | BusinessDesk

March 21 (BusinessDesk) – New Zealand’s current-account deficit narrowed more than expected in the December on record exports of dairy products and lower dividends paid to overseas investors. More >>

MIDDAY UPDATE: Contact drops on NZX’s ‘free-float’ changes

20 March 2012 12:15pm | BusinessDesk

March 20 (BusinessDesk) – Shares in Contact Energy, the power company half owned by Australia’s Origin Energy, fell after the NZX said it would only recognise the ‘pure free float’ of shares available for trading when it determined index weightings. More >>