Key environmental groups have signed up to a proposal which would allow both ecological restoration and intensive dairying to occur in the Mackenzie Country. The newly unveiled Mackenzie Agreement is the product of three years’ consensus-building led by Guy Salmon, a close adviser to Cabinet Minister Nick Smith and an architect of the collaborative process behind the Land and Water …

The Tiwai Point aluminium smelter is “losing millions of dollars every month” and can ill-afford to give shift workers a 50 percent increase in leave without increasing hours worked, the company says. The smelter owner, New Zealand Aluminium Smelters, says it will appeal an Employment Relations Authority decision that overturns its 20-year practice of applying a “lieu days benefit”, which …

SkyCity Entertainment Group shares rose to the highest level in 5 ½ years after the Auckland-based casino and hotel company inked a deal to build a $402 million convention centre in exchange for increased gambling concessions. SkyCity shares rose 3.4 percent to $4.55, the highest since November 2007, after the deal was announced in Auckland by Economic Development Minister Steven …

The number of New Zealand house sales slipped from a six-year high last month, with prices deflating a little, though the national market is still being driven by the country’s two biggest cities, Auckland and Christchurch. Agents sold 7,104 houses in April, down 13 percent from March, though up by 25 percent from the same month last year, according to …

Chorus, the telecommunications network operator carved out of Telecom, lifted its number of broadband connections in the first three months of the year, even as its fixed-line connections edged lower. The Wellington-based company increased its total broadband connections to 1.09 million in the three months ended March 31 from 1.08 million at the start of the quarter, with its biggest …

Chorus, the telecommunications network operator carved out of Telecom, lifted its number of broadband connections in the first three months of the year, even as its fixed-line connections edged lower. The Wellington-based company increased its total broadband connections to 1.09 million in the three months ended March 31 from 1.08 million at the start of the quarter, with its biggest …

Kiwi Income Property Trust, the owner of Auckland’s Sylvia Park Shopping Centre, reported a 15 percent fall in annual earnings due to a drop in rental income and expects to pay a smaller return to investors in 2014. Distributable earnings, the favoured profit measure for property investors which strips out unrealised movements in the value of the portfolio, fell to …

Kiwi Income Property Trust, the owner of Auckland’s Sylvia Park Shopping Centre, reported a 15 percent fall in annual earnings due to a drop in rental income and expects to pay a smaller return to investors in 2014. Distributable earnings, the favoured profit measure for property investors which strips out unrealised movements in the value of the portfolio, fell to …

The New Zealand dollar fell after a report that the US Federal Reserve is planning to slow its policy of quantitative easing, increasing the attractiveness of US dollar assets. The kiwi fell to 82.74 US cents from 82.98 cents in late New York trading on Friday. The trade-weighted index fell to 77.45 from 77.56. The US dollar rose against other …

SkyCity Entertainment Group has gained a 27-year extension to its Auckland casino licence and can add 230 slot machines and 40 gaming tables in exchange for meeting the $402 million construction, fit-out and land costs of a new convention centre in the city. The company is gaining concessions with a net present value of $316 million, according to a base …