Tru-Test Group, the agri-tech group that ranked 16th on the TIN100 survey of the country’s top research and technology firms, has bought milk storage and refrigeration firm Dairy Technology Services from local manufacturer NDA Group for $73 million. The Auckland-based company bought the company after raising $5.4 million in a two-for-nine renounceable rights issue at 96 cents apiece, which it …

Satara Cooperative Group, the Te Puke-based kiwifruit and avocado company, may post a full-year loss before tax after an asset revaluation review found it had double-counted its cool stores. The company would reduce the value of land, buildings and plant by $5 million to $33.4 million if it takes all the adjustments in the 2012 year, it said in a …

Optimism rules on the world’s largest economy. Last week’s slew of reports underpinned the cautiously upbeat outlook for the US, even though one showed an unexpected contraction in American GDP in the fourth quarter. On Friday, data showed that US payrolls rose 157,000 in January, with a substantially revised 196,000 gain in the prior month and a 247,000 climb in …