Former New Zealand Shareholders Association chairman Bruce Sheppard will face trial by judge alone after former Hanover Finance shareholders Mark Hotchin and Eric Watson succeeded in arguing their defamation case was too complex for a jury. Judge Mark Cooper ordered a trial by judge alone based on “the complexity of the issues that are likely to arise and the nature …

Westpac New Zealand has pulled back on its level of mortgage lending where it wears the bulk of the risk, amid increasingly volatile house prices. The lender has reduced its level of lending above an 80 percent loan-to-value ratio (LVR) to about 21 percent from about 22 percent a year after house prices in Auckland and Christchurch rose at a …

Briscoe Group, the homeware and sports goods chain controlled by managing director Rod Duke, lifted first-quarter sales 5.9 percent, helping offset weaker gross margins caused by increasing competition among retailers and a late start to winter. Sales rose to $108.6 million in the three months ended April 28, the Auckland-based company said in a statement, with a 5.5 percent lift …