Disgruntled Alliance Group shareholders have gathered sufficient support to force a special meeting to discuss the potential benefits and risks of a merger with fellow cooperative Silver Fern Farms. Balfour farmer Jeff Grant, who along with rural accountant and farmer, Gaye Cowie, have been gathering the required 5 percent of proxy forms needed to force the special meeting, say they …

Kiwi cereal maker Smartfoods is about to shift into a new factory that will treble production capacity as part of a five-year plan to boost revenue to $50 million from $15.7 million by jumping on a trend towards healthier eating. Smartfoods, which has around 50 staff, has grown at a compounded annual growth rate of 36.5 percent since its first …

The New Zealand dollar rose as high as 66 US cents overnight after Prime Minister John Key told reporters at his weekly post-Cabinet press conference that the local currency had fallen faster than expected. The kiwi was trading at 65.67 US cents at 8am in Wellington, from 65.61 cents at 5pm yesterday and 65.12 cents immediately before the 4pm press conference. …