New Zealand

By Paul McBeth Sept. 22 (BusinessDesk) – Synlait Milk, which counts China’s Bright Dairy & Food as its biggest shareholder, posted a 46 percent drop in annual profit as lactoferrin sales missed expectations and it kept milk payments high enough to ensure supply. Synlait cut its payout forecast for the current season. Net profit dropped to $10.6 million, or 7.21 cents per share, …

By Fiona Rotherham Sept. 22 (BusinessDesk) – Concussion management software developed by Kiwi technology company CSx has been put to the test by teams in Rugby World Cup 2015 as a UK medical chief calls for rule changes to protect players from head injuries. The Auckland-based company, founded by former sports therapist Ed Lodge and bankrolled by Blues co-owner Murray …

Mark Lacy and Jason Maywald, directors of OPI Pacific Finance, have been sentenced to 200 hours of community work and A$100,000 in reparations after pleading guilty to two Securities Act charges laid by the Financial Markets Authority. Last month, Lacy and Maywald pleaded guilty to charges relating to a registered prospectus and an advertisement distributed in 2007, which the FMA said …

By Jonathan Underhill Sept. 18 (BusinessDesk) – SkyCity Entertainment Group, New Zealand’s only listed casino company, said it has gained resource consent approval for the convention centre. The company gets some $458 million of gaming concessions as a result of agreeing to build the convention centre in a deal with the government. In May, SkyCity lifted the minimum it will invest in the development to $430 million …

By Paul McBeth Sept. 18 (BusinessDesk) – Lines companies Buller Electricity and Pioneer Generation plan to mount a takeover of electricity retailer Pulse Energy, though haven’t settled on an offer price yet. Pulse Energy was told by its 56 percent shareholder Buller Electricity that the West Coast-based lines company will team up with Otago-based Pioneer to buy the remaining Pulse …

By Suze Metherell Sept. 17 (BusinessDesk) – Creditors of New Zealand’s failed state-owned coal miner Solid Energy have voted in favour of an orderly sell down over the next 2 1/2 years, rejecting a last minute foreign bidder’s request to delay the watershed meeting ahead of a possible buyout. Korda Mentha administrator Brendon Gibson said a move by Australian company Mach …

By Paul McBeth Sept. 17 (BusinessDesk) – New Zealand’s economy accelerated by less than expected in the second quarter, with agriculture and mining recovering from a weak start to the year. The kiwi dollar dropped almost half a US cent. Gross domestic product grew 0.4 percent in the three months ended June 30, accelerating from a 0.2 percent pace in the March quarter …

By Pattrick Smellie Sept. 17 (BusinessDesk) – A New South Wales-based mining investor, Mach Energy, is expected to make an alternative bid for distressed state-owned coal miner Solid Energy at today’s ‘watershed’ meeting of creditors in Christchurch this morning. BusinessDesk reliably understands Mach will seek a 30 day delay to the vote scheduled at today’s meeting of Solid Energy creditors, …

Solid Energy’s banking backers can expect to get back between 35 cents and 40 cents in the dollar under a Deed of Company Arrangement that will allow the insolvent state-owned coal miner to be wound up and its saleable assets disposed of over the next two and a half years. A raft of banks, local authorities and businesses including Kiwirail, Fonterra …

The number of home sales fell 4.4 percent in August from July, while soaring on an annual basis, as the national median price steadied on a monthly reading, according to the latest figures from the Real Estate Institute of New Zealand. Auckland’s median price increased 0.7 percent in August to $740,000, and has surged 21 percent in the year. Some 7,766 homes sold …