New Zealand dairy products giant Fonterra faces another food purity scare after advising eight customers it has found a strain of chlostridium, linked to the deadly disease botulism, in three batches whey protein concentrate used in products including infant formula. home depot job application The concentrate was produced at a single New Zealand manufacturing site in May 2012 and test …

First NZ Capital upgraded its recommendation for units in Fonterra Cooperative Group’s shareholders fund to ‘outperform’ from ‘neutral’, saying a short-term pullback in the price is a buying opportunity. At the same time, the brokerage lowered its earnings forecasts for Fonterra for the coming three years and reduced its 12-month target price on the units to $8.30 from $8.50 after …

The American academic whose work underpins the Labour Party’s electricity policy says New Zealand’s existing market arrangements are starting to work better and should be improved further. In a wide-ranging interview with BusinessDesk, Professor Frank Wolak of Stanford University described the Labour-Greens NZ Power single buyer policy as “a sham that might make me feel a bit better”, but was …

The New Zealand dollar approached 89 Australian cents this morning as investors favoured the reviving local economy over investment in Australia where the economy is slowing. The kiwi touched a new five-year high of 88.98 Australian cents, and recently traded at 88.87 cents, from 88.30 cents at the 5pm market close in Wellington yesterday. The local currency was little changed …

First NZ Capital upgraded its recommendation on homeware and sporting goods retail chain Briscoe Group to ‘neutral’ from ‘underperform’ and raised its outlook for earnings, citing better sales. Briscoe this week posted a 6.4 percent increase in second quarter sales and a 3.9 percent rise in same-store sales, compared with the year earlier quarter. The homeware unit posted its ninth …

Kiwi Income Property Trust may need to sell assets or raise equity to reduce its debt gearing should a proposal to bring its management inhouse go ahead, according to Craigs Investment Partners research analyst Chris Byrne. The Trust, managed by a company owned by Commonwealth Bank of Australia, may have to pay the bank A$66 million or NZ$75 million to …

Briscoe Group, whose shares have grown four times faster than the NZX 50 Index in the past five years, is eager to make acquisitions or substantial investments using a cash pile that may have grown to $90 million by January 2014. Managing director Rod Duke, who owns 78 percent of the listed retailer, said by the end the financial year, …

The cost of administering the frozen funds of late businessman Allan Hubbard has topped $17 million, of which almost a third was hoovered up in legal fees. Since the Hubbard entities were put into statutory management in 2010, Grant Thornton’s Richard Simpson, Trevor Thornton and Graeme McGlinn have racked up $1.4 million overseeing the administration of Te Tue Charitable Trust, …

NZAX-listed Malaysian internet services play Mykris has reported a solid lift in earnings and is paying 1.8 cents per share in dividends in its first year since seeking a listing on the New Zealand alternative market’s board. The company operates in Malaysia but reports in New Zealand dollars, turning over $8.9 million in the year to June 30, and turning …

Xero, the cloud-based accounting software firm, added 36,000 customers since the end of March and is predicting an 80 percent pickup in annual sales as it continues its drive for global growth, which will widen the loss at the end of the year. Chief executive Rod Drury told shareholders in Wellington today the company has 193,000 customers, that’s up from …