Heartland New Zealand, which gained bank registration in December, posted a 9.2 percent gain in first-half profit on increased earnings from retail, business and rural lending and a reduction in costs. Profit rose to $10.7 million in the six months ended Dec. 31, from $9.8 million a year earlier, the Christchurch-based company said in a statement. Net operating income rose …

Summerset Group, the retirement village operator and developer, more than tripled its net profit, beating the forecast from its 2011 prospectus, and will pay a bigger dividend than what analysts were picking. Net profit climbed to $14.8 million, or 6.96 cents per share, in the 12 months ended Dec. 31, from $4.3 million, or 2.39 cents, a year earlier, the …

Shares in Chorus dropped 2 percent after the telecommunications network operator spun out of Telecom signalled the cost of building a nationwide ultrafast broadband network has increased by some $300 million. The Wellington-based company expects the total UFB build to be between $1.7 billion and $1.9 billion, from a previous range of $1.4 billion and $1.6 billion. It flagged capital …