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With Finance Minister Bill English set to deliver his sixth budget for the country, newzealandinc.com looks at five key themes to consider for the upcoming year’s financial framework. 1. Surplus – It’s been six years in the making and English will finally get to confirm this afternoon that the nation’s books are set to get out of the red. It seemed …

The pace of expansion in New Zealand’s manufacturing sector eased in April, to dip below the 4-month average, as two consecutive long weekends weighed on production. The BNZ-Business NZ seasonally adjusted performance of manufacturing index fell to 55.2 in April, from a downwardly revised 58 in March, and 55.9 in April last year. A reading above 50 indicates expansion in …

Ryman Healthcare, New Zealand’s largest listed retirement village operator, lifted profit 43 percent as it gained more revenue from a larger base of villages and the value of property increased. Net income rose to $194.8 million, or 39 cents a share, in the 12 months ended March 13, from $136.7 million, or 27.3 cents, a year earlier, Christchurch-based Ryman said in …

Finance Minister Bill English has unveiled his sixth budget, setting the fiscal agenda for NZ just months out from the election. Since 2009, English has worked towards bringing New Zealand back to surplus and has finally been able to confirm what seemed like a distant goal in the wake of the global financial crisis. In what he  previewed as a …

The New Zealand dollar jumped to a one-month high against the British pound after the Bank of England dashed the hopes of some investors who had expected it to signal a tightening in monetary policy. The kiwi touched 51.72 British pence early this morning, and was trading at 51.62 pence at 8am in Wellington, from 51.38 pence at 5pm yesterday. The local …

Wall Street slipped from record highs as some investors took the opportunity to lock in profits on a day without immediate impetus to drive valuations higher and disappointing corporate results such as from Deere. With about an hour of trading left in the day in New York, the Dow slid 0.38 percent, the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index fell 0.19 …

Matthew Olde, who helped manage MightyRiverPower’s IPO, has been tapped by the government-controlled energy provider to become chief executive of its Metrix metering business. The Auckland-based company is targeting growth through its Metrix service, which provides electricity retailers and companies with ‘smart’ meters, and is currently New Zealand’s second largest provider of meters, MRP said in a statement. Olde has …

Morrison & Co, the Wellington-based investment manager that founded Infratil in 1994, says clients taken on since then are potential partners of the listed fund and provide a wider scope for assessing business opportunities. Morrison & Co Infrastructure Management was paid a management fee of $19 million by Infratil for the year ended March 31, down from $19.7 million a year …

Knauf, the German building materials company, failed to get Fletcher Building’s use of the “Batts” trade mark for building insulation thrown out on the grounds that it is a common name in general public use. In a 113-page High Court judgement, Justice Brendan Brown refused a request to revoke the trade mark, although he limited Fletcher’s claim of infringement of …

New Zealand food prices rose in April, snapping two declines, as eggs and dairy products lifted grocery bills in the month, though inflation remained contained as the strong kiwi dollar kept a lid on imported prices. The food price index advanced 0.6 percent in April following a 0.3 percent fall in March, according to Statistics New Zealand. Food prices increased …