Mercury Energy, the electricity retailer owned by partial privatisation candidate MightyRiverPower, has announced its first across the board price cuts in a decade. The cuts average 1.4 percent for most of its customers in its home territory, Auckland, and will apply from April 1. The cut is credited to an order by the government’s competition watchdog, the Commerce Commission, to …

New Zealand shares were sold off across the board, following a strong run earlier in the week. December quarter inflation figures showed a fall in prices in the last three months of last year, indicating sustained economic weakness, while Chinese growth data was soft. The NZX50 Index fell 32.63 points, or 0.77 percent, to 4614.17. Within the index, five stocks …

Government pension and savings funds collectively own more than 5 percent of 47 companies listed on the NZX and more than 10 percent of 17 companies. The analysis of combined market power of Accident Compensation Compensation, New Zealand Super Fund, Government Superfund and National Provident Fund is disclosed in an annual portfolio report by Treasury’s Crown Ownership Monitoring unit. The …

Market darling Diligent Board Member Services is tidying up the way it grants share options to employees after finding it granted too many options to senior staff and did not provide a prospectus to others. The company, whose board members include former NZX boss Mark Weldon, has embarrassingly had to advise NZX and the Financial Markets Authority of the breaches. …

New Image Group’s chairman Graeme Clegg is moving to take the colostrum-based health tonic maker private, saying a sharemarket listing no longer makes sense for the company. The company has received a notice of a takeover at 26 cents a share from New Image Trustee Ltd, a company controlled by Mr Clegg, who already owns just under 70 percent of …

Vehicle Inspection New Zealand (VINZ) is reiterating its don’t sell notice to shareholders, saying an offer from Jevic New Zealand is opportunistic, how to prevent premature ejaculation Jevic, a company that pre-vets imported used vehicles, has offered to buy all the shares of VINZ at $1.65 each, valuing the target at $4.1 million. VINZ chairman Ken Worsley said a report …

The New Zealand dollar was confined in a narrow range ahead of the release of the December quarter consumer price index (CPI) this morning. The kiwi was at 84.10 US cents at 8am, up from 83.93 US cents at 5pm on Thursday. “It traded in a 40 point range at best overnight ,” Mike Jones, from the sales team at …

Equities on both sides of the Atlantic rose as buoyant data on the US housing and labour markets as well as better-than-expected earnings from eBay bolstered hopes the economy is in better shape than feared. Initial claims for state unemployment benefits last week dropped 37,000 to a seasonally adjusted 335,000, the lowest level since January 2008, according to the Labor …

New Zealand shares rose as another consumer confidence survey showed improving sentiment, especially in Auckland, even as Australian jobs data disappointed financial markets. The NZX50 rose 27.57 points, or 0.66 percent, to 4196.81, closing on a 1,000 point gain in the last 12 months. On the same day last year, the NZX50 stood at 3234.805. Within the index 22 stocks …

Christmas shoppers used plastic cards to spend up on pretty much everything except fuel, according to Statistics New Zealand. comparison and contrast essay The value of electronic card spending in retail industries rose 0.3 percent in December from November. It was the third consecutive monthly increase. The value of total electronic card transactions rose by 0.4 percent in December. The …