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Meridian Energy and the owners of its largest customer, the Tiwai Point aluminium smelter, are continuing to talk after an intense three days’ face to face negotiation last week, with parties in both Wellington and Sydney crunching numbers on possible new deals. Neither side will comment on the record, but BusinessDesk understands efforts to find common ground on a new …

Contact Energy shares dropped almost 6 percent in early NZX trading, with the company saying it was “hard to see” how it would have justified investing $2.5 billion in new power plants if the Labour-Greens electricity policy had been in place. In a statement not issued to the NZX but received by BusinessDesk, Contact chief executive Dennis Barnes says “under …

The New Zealand dollar fell as weaker US data and disappointing earnings stoked concerns global growth may be slowing and weighed on stocks and risk appetite. The kiwi fell to 84.11 US cents from 84.51 cents at 5pm in Wellington yesterday. The trade-weighted index fell to 77.65 from 77.99. The Philadelphia Federal Reserve Bank’s business activity index fell to 1.3 …

Wall Street dropped on disappointing earnings from companies including Morgan Stanley and eBay as well as the latest economic indicators suggesting a slowdown in the pace of the recovery. Shares of Morgan Stanley and eBay fell, last down 4.7 percent and 5.4 percent respectively, as they posted results that fell short of expectations. So did UnitedHealth Group, sending its shares …

New Zealand shares fell as investors assessed the potential threat to power company earnings from a Labour Party-Green Party plan to overhaul the electricity sector if elected. Contact Energy, TrustPower, Infratil and Vector all declined. The NZX 50 Index fell 36.16 points, or 0.8 percent, to 4442.10. Within the index, 38 stocks fell, nine rose and three were unchanged. Turnover …

Fonterra Cooperative Group, the world’s biggest dairy exporter, has appointed Singaporean director Simon Israel to its board to replace the retiring Ralph Waters. Israel will join the Fonterra board on May 1, replacing Waters who stayed on with the dairy group to help bed in the changes from the Trading Among Farmers regime. His appointment comes as Fonterra looks increasingly …

The Labour and Green parties have promised to rip up the existing electricity market model, returning to a centrally planned electricity system, a single state-owned power buyer, and breaking up the integrated generator-retailer electricity companies. Announced on the eve of the partial privatisation of state-owned MightyRiverPower, the announcements have a triple political purpose: to show a united Labour-Green front, a …

All local councils should start charging ratepayers for both drinking and waste water by volume, while new water infrastructure should be delivered regionally because of its high cost for smaller communities, says a government advisory group report. Chaired by Wellington Regional Council chair Fran Wilde, the report was quietly released on the Department of Internal Affairs website on Wednesday, and …

New Zealand consumers are more upbeat about buying big ticket items than they have been in five-and-a-half years, with confidence increasing last month. The ANZ-Roy Morgan Consumer Confidence survey rose 4.4 points to 119.2 in April, just ahead of the historical average at 117. A net 40 percent of the 1,019 people surveyed thing now is a good time to …

The Labour and Green parties have promised to rip up the existing electricity market model, returning to a centrally planned electricity system, a single state-owned power buyer, and breaking up the integrated generator-retailer electricity companies. Announced on the eve of the partial privatisation of state-owned MightyRiverPower, the announcements have a triple political purpose: to show a united Labour-Green front, a …