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Patchy rains have provided relief for some farming areas and left others without substantive moisture, says Chris Kelly, chief executive of state-owned Landcorp, New Zealand’s biggest farmer. The West of the North Island saw higher rainfall, with 15-40 millimetres from Northland to Waitomo down through to Taranaki. The West Coast, which applied for drought status last week, received 20-40 mm …

NZ Pork, the lobby group for the nation’s pig farmers, has lost its appeal against changes to import health standards that will allow raw meat from countries with Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome (PRRS) into New Zealand. The disease, also known as blue-ear pig disease, causes still-born piglets and respiratory illnesses in young pigs. It costs the US swine industry …

New Zealand’s services sector grew at the fastest pace in four months in January, adding to signs that business activity has strengthened in recent months. The BNZ-BusinessNZ Performance of Services Index rose 2.7 points to 55.5 in February, the highest reading since October last year and the high recorded for the month of February since the survey began in 2007. …

Xero, the cloud-based computing company whose shares have more than tripled in the past 12 months, isn’t yet large enough to consider a US listing, says founder and chief executive Rod Drury. The shares dipped from Friday’s record high. “A US listing is certainly something a business with global aspirations would consider,” Drury said in a statement. “We have been …

New Zealanders continue to feel relatively chipper about their economic circumstances, despite the national spread of drought conditions and a string of high profile job cuts, according to the latest Westpac McDermott-Miller confidence survey. However, public servants are less optimistic than private sector workers and a gap is opening between mens’ and womens’ confidence levels, which Westpac senior economist Felix …

Pumpkin patch, the children’s clothing chain, returned to profit in the first half as costs to close underperforming stores in the US and UK a year earlier weren’t repeated. Sales fell on tough trading conditions and inventory disruptions. Profit was $4.7 million in the six months ended Jan. 31, from a loss of about $30 million a year earlier, the …

Quadrant Private Equity is ceding control of Summerset Group Holdings after agreeing to sell 40 million shares in the retirement village operator through brokerage UBS New Zealand. The sale amounts to 18.6 percent of the shares of Summerset, leaving the buyout firm with 37.2 percent of the company. Quadrant’s QPE Funds Management unit “remains a significant shareholder in Summerset and …

The New Zealand dollar fell at the open after Cyprus delayed a vote on austerity measures that are part of a 10 billion euro bailout devised by euro zone finance ministers and would result in the island’s depositors losing some of their savings. The kiwi dollar fell to 82.29 US cents from 82.72 cents in late New York trading on …

Pencarrow Private Equity, whose past investments have included paper merchant BJ Ball and buggy maker Phil & Teds, is keeping an eye on ways to leverage the $30 billion rebuild of Christchurch having raising $124 million for its new fund. The private equity firm has already run the ruler over 60 companies for its Pencarrow IV Fund to invest in …

A much-maligned weekend deal to rescue Cyprus from financial collapse appears set to unravel within days and could renew concerns about the euro zone and its continuing debt crisis. Whether that flows across the Atlantic and dampens enthusiasm on Wall Street is to be seen. For their part, US investors will be focusing on a two-day meeting this week by …