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Guinness Peat Group, the New Zealand investment group winding down its portfolio, said the UK regulator has extended its investigation into the company’s pension schemes. The UK Pensions Regulator is extending its investigation into GPG’s Coats Pension Plan and its Brunel Holdings Pensions Scheme to also cover the Staveley Industries Retirement Benefits Scheme, GPG said in a statement. The company …

Wall Street climbed to fresh records amid central bank promises for ongoing stimulus and better-than-expected economic data from the US and abroad. A day after US Federal Reserve policy makers said they plan to maintain their asset purchases to help propel the pace of economic recovery, their counterparts at the European Central Bank said they too will hold to their …

The New Zealand dollar approached 89 Australian cents this morning as investors favoured the reviving local economy over investment in Australia where the economy is slowing. The kiwi touched a new five-year high of 88.98 Australian cents, and recently traded at 88.87 cents, from 88.30 cents at the 5pm market close in Wellington yesterday. The local currency was little changed …

Wall Street advanced as US Federal Reserve policy makers kept its US$85 billion a month bond-buying program intact as the economy continues to recover at a pace that requires ongoing stimulus. “The Committee sees the downside risks to the outlook for the economy and the labour market as having diminished since the fall,” policy makers said in a statement at …

Rakon managing director Brent Robinson and his brother and executive director Darren Robinson have agreed to sell some 493,000 recently purchased shares each after the transactions breached the Takeovers Code. This month the brothers each bought $81,539 worth of shares, representing 0.52 percent of the Auckland-based crystal oscillator maker, though in doing do breached the code as they, along with …

MightyRiverPower and Meridian Energy’s utility-style earnings and regulatory risk mean they fail the investment criteria for Fisher Funds’ managed Kingfish, according to the NZX-listed equity investor’s quarterly newsletter. Kingfish didn’t participate in the government’s selldown of MightyRiverPower, whose shares are trading below the $2.50 sale price “and is unlikely to participate in the pending float of Meridian,” according to the …

Shares in Wynyard Group gained after the intelligence software developer signed up the Serious Fraud Office as its latest customer for an undisclosed sum. The white-collar crime investigator will use Wynyard’s investigations software as a means to improve efficiency and free up investigators to better manage their operations, the Auckland-based company said in a statement. That software is used to …

The manager of Kiwi Income Property Trust didn’t give investors any more clues on a proposal to bring its contract inhouse, but did share growing optimism about state of retail and Auckland office space. Kiwi Income Properties Ltd chairman Mark Ford told today’s annual meeting the proposal by Commonwealth Bank of Australia to internalise the management of the property trust …

Xero, the cloud-based accounting firm, burned through more cash last quarter as the company’s rapid expansion saw wages, advertising and marketing payments run ahead of sales. The Wellington-based company’s cash flow statement shows it was sitting on $68.8 million of cash as at June 30, down $9.4 million from three months earlier. It used $6.57 million in the first quarter …

Auckland International Airport, the country’s main gateway, isn’t extracting excessive profits as its expected earnings fall just within the regulator’s tolerance. The Commerce Commission found information disclosure regulations have had a positive influence on the airport’s behaviour and have been effective in limiting its ability to extract excessive profits, deputy chair Sue Begg said in a statement. The antitrust regulator …