Solid Energy will remain trading during a “difficult two or three months” while the company, its bankers and the government find a way to keep a smaller, coal-only business alive. At a press conference in the Beehive, Finance Minister Bill English said the government was not injecting any funds into Solid Energy at present and had offered no formal government …

The Commerce Commission has cleared rental equipment operator Hirepool to buy Hirequip out of receivership, saying the two operate in different sectors and are hindered by their rivals. The regulator didn’t find any significant overlap between Hirepool and Hirequip in the hire of heavy construction and earthworks equipment, and that a merged entity would be constrained by competition at a …

New Zealand shares fell, pushing the NZX 50 Index to a month-low as Skellerup Holdings and Nuplex Industries missed profit expectations and cut guidance, and Fletcher Building continued its correction following its results yesterday. The NZX 50 fell 43.81 points, or 1 percent, to 4170.4, the lowest close since Jan. 18. Within the index, 26 stocks fell, 12 rose and …