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BusinessDesk
Independent, Trustworthy New Zealand Business News
The Wellington-based BusinessDesk team provides a daily news feed for a serious business audience.
BusinessDesk - Latest News [Page 1214]
Receivers expecting progress on Mainzeal projects
Wednesday, 20 February 2013, 4:23 pm | BusinessDesk
Feb 20 (BusinessDesk) - Receivers for the collapsed Mainzeal Property and Construction say they hope to see work resume or responsibility returned to clients "in the near future" on the numerous projects that stopped in their tracks three weeks ... More >>
F&P Healthcare lifts guidance as sales grow, margins widen
Wednesday, 20 February 2013, 3:16 pm | BusinessDesk
Feb. 20 (BusinessDesk) – Fisher & Paykel Healthcare, which makes breathing masks and respirators, lifted its full-year guidance a second time as demand for new breathing masks helps speed sales and margins widen. The shares jumped 6.8 percent ... More >>
Fletcher strategy under microscope, seeks $70M annual gain
Wednesday, 20 February 2013, 2:04 pm | BusinessDesk
Feb. 20 (BusinessDesk) – Fletcher Building chief executive Mark Adamson, in the job for just four months, has embarked on a review of the company’s business model aiming to find $70 million a year in additional earnings from centralising operations. More >>
UPDATE: Trade Me seeks acquisitions, may extend bank loan
Wednesday, 20 February 2013, 1:26 pm | BusinessDesk
Feb. 20 (BusinessDesk) - Trade Me, the online auction site spun out of Fairfax Media in 2011, is in the market for more acquisitions, and may extend its $200 million bank loan. More >>
MIDDAY UPDATE: Fletcher stock sinks as kiwi unit props up Oz
Wednesday, 20 February 2013, 12:57 pm | BusinessDesk
Feb. 20 (BusinessDesk ) - Shares of Fletcher Building sank 5.8 percent after the country's biggest listed company reported flat first-half earnings, which were propped up by the kiwi units. More >>
NZ producers’ prices fall in 4th qtr on electricity demand
Wednesday, 20 February 2013, 11:41 am | BusinessDesk
Feb. 20 (BusinessDesk) – New Zealand producers’ input and output prices both fell in the fourth quarter, with falling prices for electricity cited as the biggest contributor. More >>
NAB calls in $449.7M of high-yielding BNZ perpetual notes
Wednesday, 20 February 2013, 11:10 am | BusinessDesk
Feb. 20 (BusinessDesk) – National Australia Bank is calling in $449.7 million of BNZ Income Securities perpetual shares which pay a coupon of 9.89 percent, the highest of any hybrid security traded on the NZX Debt Market. More >>
Fletcher Building 1H profit edges up 1% as NZ offsets Aust
Wednesday, 20 February 2013, 10:37 am | BusinessDesk
Feb. 20 (BusinessDesk) – Fletcher Building, the biggest company on the NZX 50 Index, posted a 1 percent gain in first-half profit as home building and Canterbury reconstruction in New Zealand made up for declining Australian earnings. The stock fell on the results. More >>
NZ 1H operating deficit smaller than forecast
Wednesday, 20 February 2013, 10:34 am | BusinessDesk
Feb. 20 (BusinessDesk) - The New Zealand government had a smaller than expected first-half operating deficit after Treaty of Waitangi settlement costs didn't eventuate in the period, and tax revenue was in line with forecasts. More >>
Trade Me 1H profit beats IPO outlook, signals acquisitions
Wednesday, 20 February 2013, 9:28 am | BusinessDesk
Feb. 20 (BusinessDesk) - Trade Me, the online auction site spun out of Fairfax Media in 2011, lifted first-half profit 2.7 percent, beating the forecast in its offer document as its classified advertising rallied. The company signalled plans for more ... More >>
NZ dollar rises as gains in dairy auction lift sentiment
Wednesday, 20 February 2013, 8:53 am | BusinessDesk
Feb. 20 (BusinessDesk) – The New Zealand dollar gained as a strong GlobalDairyTrade auction added to positive sentiment about the local economy and trader await a speech to manufacturers and exporters from Reserve Bank governor Graeme Wheeler. More >>
While you were sleeping: Office supplies value
Wednesday, 20 February 2013, 7:51 am | BusinessDesk
Feb 20 (BusinessDesk) – Wall Street gained as reports of merger talks between Office Depot and OfficeMax indicated that there is plenty of value left even as benchmark equity indexes approach record highs. More >>
Dairy product prices rise 3.1% in GDT auction
Wednesday, 20 February 2013, 7:14 am | BusinessDesk
Feb. 20 (BusinessDesk) - Prices of dairy products in Fonterra's latest GlobalDairyTrade auction rose by the most in five months, adding to positive sentiment that has pushed the kiwi dollar to near a 2 ½-year high. More >>
Former INM director Cosgrove gets APN chair
Tuesday, 19 February 2013, 6:38 pm | BusinessDesk
Feb. 19 (BusinessDesk) - Former Independent News & Media director Peter Cosgrove has been given the chair of APN News & Media after the Irish company successfully rolled the board in the face of a capital raising that could have watered down its ... More >>
MARKET CLOSE: NZ shares rise on Contact profit, FBU optimism
Tuesday, 19 February 2013, 5:54 pm | BusinessDesk
Feb. 19 (BusinessDesk) – New Zealand shares rose as Contact Energy met expectations for first-half earnings growth and Fletcher Building gained on optimism its interim results tomorrow will show some recovery in Australia and more activity in Christchurch. More >>
Ebos lifts interim profit by 29% as Masterpet performs
Tuesday, 19 February 2013, 5:25 pm | BusinessDesk
Feb 19 (BusinessDesk) – Ebos Group, the healthcare and animal care products company, lifted first-half profit by 29 percent on the contribution of its Masterpet business, acquired a year earlier. The first-half dividend has been bumped up 30 percent. More >>
Contact goes cool on gas, seeks higher returns on capital
Tuesday, 19 February 2013, 5:21 pm | BusinessDesk
Feb. 19 (BusinessDesk) - Contact Energy needs to raise its return on capital closer to international norms, but sees little capacity to do so by raising electricity prices in the next two or three years, says chief executive Dennis Barnes. More >>
NZ dollar falls on reports of China destroying milk powder
Tuesday, 19 February 2013, 5:20 pm | BusinessDesk
Feb. 19 (BusinessDesk) - The New Zealand dollar fell in local trading after reports China's quarantine administration destroyed three different brands of locally-produced milk powder, reigniting fears about the quality of the country's biggest export. More >>
Fonterra plays down Chinese milk powder destruction reports
Tuesday, 19 February 2013, 5:08 pm | BusinessDesk
Feb. 19 (BusinessDesk) - Fonterra Cooperative Group, the world's biggest dairy exporter, is playing down reports that China's quarantine administration destroyed three different New Zealand brands of milk powder as being nothing out of the ordinary and part of ... More >>
Liquidator sheets home $19M liability to Mainzeal offshoot
Tuesday, 19 February 2013, 4:13 pm | BusinessDesk
Feb. 19 (BusinessDesk) - A building façade supplier linked to the collapsed construction company Mainzeal Property and Construction had racked up total liabilities of $18.9 million, according to the first liquidators' report. More >>
