New Zealand’s economy grew at a 3.3 percent annual rate in the first three months of the year, the fastest first-quarter pace in eight years, supporting the central bank’s view that it must press on with interest rate increases to keep inflation at bay. The economy grew 1 percent pace in the first three months of the year, from an …

The administrators of failed retailer Postie Plus Group, which has been bought by a yet-to-be-named foreign retailer, will close 12 of the chain’s 82 shops in New Zealand, cutting 64 workers. Prior to the appointment of administrators David Bridgeman and Colin McCloy, Postie Plus management had identified a number of stores that were no longer viable, the PwC receivers said in a statement. The retailer went into …

Fonterra Cooperative Group has tapped the president of its China operations, Kelvin Wickham, to head up the newly created global ingredients while Johan Priem will take over his previous role. Wickham will become managing director of global ingredients which oversees “the sale of all ingredients globally, delivering solutions to our global accounts, tactical optimisation of demand and supply and managing the …