Accounting software firm Xero had $85 million of cash at the end of 2012 after raising $60 million in a private placement in December. The figure is revealed in its first quarterly cashflow report, which is required by the ASX. Xero took up a secondary listing on ASX in November. The report shows net operating and investing cash outflows for …

Reserve Bank governor Graeme Wheeler singled out rising house prices as a threat to the country’s financial stability and kept the official cash rate at 2.5 percent, as expected, saying the overvalued New Zealand dollar was holding consumer prices below the bank’s target band. “The bank does not want to see financial stability or inflation risks accentuated by housing demand …

New Zealand Bloodstock’s 2013 premier sale wrapped up at Karaka on Tuesday with 323 of the 441 lots sold. The total raised of $51.05 million was $3.085 million less than in 2012, with 27 fewer horses sold. The sale average of $158,054 is a 2 percent increase on last year’s figure, while the median was unchanged at $120,000. The clearance …

GFNZ Group, the former Geneva Finance, has raised $1.66 million from eight professional investors, two of whom are directors. The NZAX-listed automotive industry financier placed $2.075 million of new business receivables into Prime Asset Trust and used this as security to raise the money. In August, it placed $3.3 million of new business receivables into the trust as security to …

The members of a “shadow board” looking over the shoulder of Reserve Bank of New Zealand governor Graeme Wheeler are more in favour of a cut in the official cash rate than a rise. Economists widely expect Wheeler to hold the official cash rate at 2.5 percent on Thursday and that is also the official line of the New Zealand …

The New Zealand dollar is firm, reflecting indications of improving European economies and the expectation that central banks in New Zealand and the United States will keep policy easy this week. The kiwi was at 83.73 US cents at 8am, up from 83.61 US cents at 5pm on Tuesday. The international backdrop is looking better with the Dow Jones Industrial …

Better-than-expected profit outlooks from drug makers Pfizer and Eli Lilly bolstered Wall Street, while a rise in US home prices also underpinned optimism that the economic recovery is kicking into gear. Shares of Pfizer gained, last up 3.1 percent, after the company predicted 2013 profit that surpassed expectations. So did Eli Lilly, boosting its shares 3.8 percent. Of the 174 …

literacy narrative essay Fonterra chief executive Theo Spierings has torn strips off Labour agriculture spokesman Damien O’Connor for, he says, endangering the whole of the New Zealand dairy industry with “drastic” allegations relating to traces of a benign chemical, DCD, found in some powdered milk. O’Connor issued a press statement alleging a cover-up of the DCD findings in September to …

Fonterra Shareholders Fund units took a small, immediate knock as trading opened on the NZX this morning after a weekend in which international media latched onto the news that small traces of a nitrate inhibitor had been found in some Fonterra milk powder. FSF units dropped 0.41 percent, or 3 cents, to $7.20 at the open of NZX trading, and …

Consolidation in the wine-making industry is continuing with Delegat’s Group paying $8.5 million for the vineyard and winery assets of Matariki Wines and Stony Bay Wines, which are in receivership. The deal allows the listed owner of the Oyster Bay wine brand to increase its vineyard holdings in Hawke’s Bay by 61 hectares to 500 hectares. “The acquisition of this …