Fletcher Building executive Dave Worley has left the country’s biggest listed company after the Crane unit he was responsible for was folded into the parent. The Auckland-based company will disestablish Crane, which has been operating as a separate group since its takeover two years ago, in a bid to better align the construction firm’s units, Fletcher said in a statement. …

New Zealand retail spending on electronic cards fell in March, snapping five months of gains, as Easter trimmed two trading days and kiwis spent less on durable goods and clothing. Retail spending on credit, debit and charge cards fell 0.5 percent, seasonally adjusted, last month, according to Statistics New Zealand. Excluding fuel and vehicles, core retail spending fell 0.8 percent …

Crucial face-to-face talks between the owners of the Tiwai Point aluminium smelter and its electricity supplier, Meridian Energy, resume in Wellington today, with both sides blocking out the rest of the week, if necessary, to try and nut out a new electricity contract. Representatives of the smelter’s 80 percent owner, Pacific Aluminium, are due to arrive for the talks at …