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Belgrave Finance legal adviser Hugh Hamilton, a former mayor of Central Hawke’s Bay, has been convicted of 14 charges over the lender’s 2008 collapse, and faces up to seven years in jail. In the High Court in Auckland today, Hamilton was found guilty of 14 Crimes Act charges of theft by a person in a special relationship, the Serious Fraud …

Shares in Ryman Healthcare weakened for a second day on the expectation New Zealand’s largest listed retirement village operator will post slower earnings growth in coming years as its costs increase. Christchurch-based Ryman yesterday posted an 18 percent rise in underlying earnings to $118.2 million for the year ended March 31. Increased costs from adding staff and boosting wages for its …

Singapore-based Wilmar International and Hong Kong-listed investment firm First Pacific Co have sweetened their takeover bid for Australasian food ingredients maker Goodman Fielder by A$100 million, but won’t go any higher without a rival offer. Wilmar, the world’s biggest palm oil processor, and First Pacific are offering to pay 70 Australian cents a share, or A$1.37 billion, for full control …

Meridian Energy, the country’s largest listed power company, sold its Californian solar plant for an undisclosed sum, wrapping up its exit from the US energy market. The Wellington-based company sold its CalRENEW-1 plant to California-based SunEdison, it said in a statement. The plant was the biggest asset of Meridian’s US subsidiary, which owed the parent $27 million in related party …

Warehouse Group chief financial officer Stephen Small has died after two years with the retailer. The Auckland-based company said in a statement after the market closed yesterday that Small died suddenly. He joined the country’s biggest listed retailer in April 2012, coming from General Motors Korea where he was chief financial officer. “Stephen was a hugely respected member of our …

The New Zealand dollar slid to a two-week low against the yen as investors shied away from so-called riskier currencies in favour of safe havens. The kiwi touched 87.43 yen early this morning, its lowest level since April 29, and was trading at 87.73 yen at 8am in Wellington, from 88.43 yen at 5pm yesterday. The local currency weakened to 86.38 US …

Wall Street declined as disappointing earnings from Wal-Mart and a surprise drop in US industrial production exacerbated nervousness about equities trading near record highs. With about an hour of trading left in the day in New York, the Dow dropped 1.2 percent, the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index shed 1.06 percent, while the Nasdaq Composite Index sank 0.98 percent. Slides …

The government has sprinkled the proceeds of its $4.7 billion assets sales programme across projects ranging from housing developments to irrigation schemes and an increased bailout for state-owned Kiwirail. Some $1 billion of the money, held by the Future Investment Fund, has been allocated in the 2014 budget, including $67 million for a new Grey Base Hospital on the West …

Two days after Australia’s black budget, New Zealand Finance Minister Bill English has unveiled a Crown balance sheet where revenue growth runs ahead of expenses in an economy accelerating to the fastest pace in a decade. English confirmed a return to Budget surplus in 2015 at $372 million, wider than the $86 million projected in the half year economic and …

Concerns over the high cost of building materials see the government temporarily cutting tariffs and anti-dumping duties on imported building products to zero, as part of efforts to improve housing affordability. The duty cuts will include products such as plasterboard, reinforcing steel bar and wire nails, and tariffs will fall to zero for products such as roofing, cladding, insulation, paints, …