New Zealand building consents for residential housing, excluding apartments, rose to a six-and-a-half year high in March, snapping two months of decline. Excluding apartments and units, which are typically volatile from month to month, seasonally adjusted consents rose 1.3 percent to 1,813 units in March, the most since November 2007, according to Statistics New Zealand. Including apartments, seasonally adjusted new …

Shares in Xero climbed 11 percent after the accounting software developer said it slowed the pace of cash outflow in the first three months of the year. The stock jumped $3.31 to $33.30 after the Wellington-based company said net operating cash outflow was $5.6 million in the three months ended March 31, slowing from an outflow of $6.5 million in …

Diligent Board Member Services filed its 2013 annual report after restating accounts for the prior three years and said chief financial officer Carl Blandino will step down once the company’s reporting obligations are up to date. The New York-based, New Zealand-listed company, whose strong operating performance was undermined by a slew of administrative errors last year, today filed its annual …