Business Desk

Hallenstein Glasson Holdings, the clothing chain, said sales in the first four months of the year are up 7 percent and profit is ahead of the same period last year. “While this is a good start, the success of the first half of our financial year hinges on our December trade,” chairman Warren Bell told shareholders at their annual meeting …

Share trading on the NZX jumped by more than a fifth in November, a month that saw the benchmark NZX 50 Index rally to near its highest level in five years, helped by KiwiSaver contributions and offshore demand for higher yields. Total trades on NZX’s cash markets climbed 21 percent to 80,894 last month from a year earlier to $3 …

Revenue Minister Peter Dunne has jumped into the multinational tax row saying tax systems around the world are adjusting to corporate giants with huge internet footprints, but very little physical presence. Dunne has requested a report from Inland Revenue into the tax treatment of such companies. “Our tax laws need to evolve and they will. This is a challenge, and it …

The mystery buyer of Kirkcaldie & Stain’s Harbour City Centre on Wellington’s Lambton Quay has walked away after deciding the building wasn’t the right fit as an investment. The bidder for the $46.5 million property confirmed it wasn’t satisfied with the building after deciding the rear development site of the building didn’t fit its business plan, Kirkcaldie said in a …

Standard & Poor’s has downplayed the threat of looming price regulation to access Chorus’s switchgear on its ageing copper lines, saying the final ruling will probably be amended given the highly political nature of the fibre network. The regulator yesterday released a draft determination that would cut what Chorus can charge internet service providers for accessing its unbundled copper network …

Delegat’s Group is flagging a small increase in annual earnings for 2013, though it’s warning that the strong kiwi dollar is making life hard for the wine-maker. The company forecasts operating profit of $27 million in the 12 months ending June 30, 2013, managing director Jim Delegat told shareholders in Auckland. That’s a 6 percent lift in earnings from 2012. …

As Canada prepares to engage as a full participant in the Trans-Pacific Trade (TPP) negotiations for the first time, a comprehensive report by Canadian trade specialist Peter Clark suggests that the advance hype about the TPP being a high quality comprehensive deal is “hogwash”.  Clark, President of Grey, Clark, Shih and Associates, says “There is already evidence of many deficiencies, …

New Zealand commodity prices rose for a fourth straight month in November, led by pelts, beef and wood pulp. Lamb prices fell to a 31-month low. The ANZ Commodity Price Index rose 1 percent last month with 10 commodity prices gaining, four declining and three unchanged. A firmer New Zealand dollar meant the gain in the ANZ NZD Commodity price …

Major cities in New Zealand continue to offer overseas expatriates world-class living standards and working conditions, Mercer’s 2012 Quality of Living Survey has found. Auckland has maintained its position, for the fourth year in a row, as the third best city in the global rankings, followed by Wellington at 13th place. Across the Tasman, Sydney has ranked as the tenth …

The peak agricultural bodies of New Zealand and Australia have united in calling for a truly comprehensive and generally liberalising Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement from day one of implementation. Federated Farmers of New Zealand and the National Farmers’ Federation of Australia are both participating in the TPP negotiations, currently taking place in Auckland. “Liberalisation must result in the elimination …