Tag Archives: Companies

Godfrey Hirst, the biggest carpet maker in Australia and New Zealand, has bought Oamaru’s unprofitable yarn-spinning plant from Japan’s Sumitomo Corp, effectively putting 192 staff on notice as it looks at ways to turn the operation around. The company, which bought the Feltex business out of receivership, was granted Overseas Investment Office approval to buy the assets last month. It …

An unnamed Swedish institution has been cleared to buy eight Waikato dairy farms from local billionaire Graeme Hart’s Carter Holt Harvey by the Overseas Investment Office. Southern Pastures Limited Partnership was given a green light to buy 3,205 hectares of land in December for an undisclosed sum, according to a decision summary published today. The farms have been for sale …

The government is reactivating its relationship with Datacom, the New Zealand firm that managed teacher payrolls before they were switched to the glitch-plagued Novopay system last year. The senior Minister made responsible for handling the Novopay debacle, Steven Joyce, announced a series of steps today, including “investigating a revised contingency plan led by the acting Secretary of Education, who has …

Accounting software firm Xero had $85 million of cash at the end of 2012 after raising $60 million in a private placement in December. The figure is revealed in its first quarterly cashflow report, which is required by the ASX. Xero took up a secondary listing on ASX in November. The report shows net operating and investing cash outflows for …

Vehicle inspectors Jevic New Zealand has upped its offer for all the shares of Vehicle Inspection New Zealand (VINZ) to a level that has won approval of directors who can’t see a competing offer eventuating. Jevic has increased its offer to $2.15 a share from the $1.65 a share, valuing VINZ at $5.4 million. The new offer is being unanimously …

By Pam Graham Multi-millionaire philanthropist Sir Owen Glenn was given the opportunity to bid for The New Zealand Herald last year but decided not to proceed. “I was approached at the beginning of last year and I did look at it as an investment but the numbers didn’t stack up,” Glenn told BusinessDesk. The former owner of OTS Logistics, who …

Major electricity users and most electricity companies are gearing up to challenge a radical new Electricity Plan changing the way they pay for access to the national grid. resume writing service Papers published on the EA’s website show a combination of confusion and opposition to the proposals, which the industry regulator unveiled in October, cutting through more than a decade …

Publisher Fairfax Media is moving more sub-editing work from Australia to New Zealand in a bid to reduce costs. Fairfax has already moved sub-editing work from the Newcastle Herald, the Illawarra Mercury and community titles to New Zealand, resulting in the loss of 66 jobs in Australia. On Wednesday it said it will move the copy sub-editing of its Financial …

Comvita, which uses produces health products from manuka honey and olive leaves, has bought an 85 hectare organic olive estate with potential to expand its production of olive leaf extracts by 130 percent over the next five years. The price paid for Organic Olives (Aust) by Comvita’s Australian subsidiary is undisclosed. The estate comprises some 7,000 certified organic olive trees, …

The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) has walked away from an investigation of Hawkins Construction while claiming there were some “unusual” aspects to contracts in a project for state-owned Transpower. The urgent investigation is now closed with no charges being laid. The SFO raided two offices New Zealand’s largest construction company last year in an investigation of Hawkins’ work on the …