Fletcher Building, the biggest company on the NZX 50 Index, posted a 1 percent gain in first-half profit as home building and Canterbury reconstruction in New Zealand made up for declining Australian earnings. The stock fell on the results. Profit rose to $146 million in the six months ended Dec. 31, from $144 million a year earlier, the Auckland-based company …

Trade Me, the online auction site spun out of Fairfax Media in 2011, lifted first-half profit 2.7 percent, beating the forecast in its offer document as its classified advertising rallied. The company signalled plans for more add-on acquisitions. Net profit rose to $37.4 million, or 9.43 cents per share, in the six months ended Dec. 31 from $36.4 million, or …

OFF TO THE RACES AND I’LL PUT $10 ON THAT BLACK AND WHITE FILLY: Overnight the GlobalDairyTrade registered a very strong rise with the TWI up 3.1 percent. Despite the lingering headlines related to consumer and offshore regulator jitters about the discovery of minute traces of DCD in some milk products last year, the strength of the auction results in …