New Zealand building consents rose 1.9 percent in February as an increased intentions to build retirement village units made up for a fall in new housing permits. The number of consents rose to a seasonally adjusted 1,592 from 1,563 in January, according to Statistics New Zealand. Stripping out new apartment permits, which are typically lumpy from month to month, consents …

The New Zealand government is offering unspecified assistance to keep the Bluff aluminium smelter open in the short term, a move which could save next month’s float of MightyRiverPower, but blows away its hands-off policy on state-owned companies’ commercial affairs. In a statement this morning, State-Owned Enterprises Minister Tony Ryall said the government became involved in direct negotiations with the …

Telecom Corp, which today launched its new services over the ultrafast broadband fibre network, wants to strip out as much as $110 million in annual costs by cutting up to 1,230 jobs. The country’s biggest phone company plans to reduce staff numbers to between 6,300 and 6,600 from 7,530 by the middle of this year through a sinking lid hiring …