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By Brierley Penn When a panel of business leaders in the US-NZ trade relationship took the stage during the second day of the Pacific Partnership Forum, the key takeaway from their discussion was unquestionable. The TPP must be completed as soon as possible, lest we witness the painfully slow crawl to progress that marked the Doha Round of WTO discussions. …

Tenon, the wood mouldings company, said it may return to profit this year as a pickup in the US housing market stokes demand for building products. The shares soared 16 percent. Operating profit before finance costs would be between zero and US$1 million in the year ending June 30, from a loss of US$8 million a year earlier, the company …

Moa Group, the boutique beer maker which raised $16 million in a float last year, reported a bigger loss on an earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation basis than was flagged in its prospectus as it spent more on marketing. Including the five months before Moa was listed, the Auckland-based company made an EBITDA loss of $3.61 million in …

PGG Wrightson managing director George Gould will step down from New Zealand’s biggest rural technology and services firm after helping refocus the company. Gould previously headed Pyne Gould Guinness and was appointed to the top job at the larger company in February 2011 to help stabilise it as it exited non-core activities. He will leave Aug. 31, the Christchurch-based company …

Moody’s Investors Service has affirmed state-controlled carrier Air New Zealand’s credit rating and revised its outlook to ‘stable’ from ‘negative’ on the airline’s efforts to deal with high fuel prices. Auckland-based Air NZ kept its Baa3 senior unsecured issue rating, and was taken off a ‘negative’ outlook after a “rapid response” to escalating fuel prices and dwindling demand, the rating …

Metlifecare, the retirement village operator whose shares have jumped 60 percent in the past year, plans to raise up to $80 million in a placement and share purchase plan as it rolls out its expansion plans. The company’s shares were halted for the placement of $70 million of shares to institutions. It will also raise up to $10 million in …

Reserve Bank governor Graeme Wheeler is prepared to ramp up the scale of the bank’s currency intervention as he looks to keep a lid on the kiwi, which is 18 percent above its 15-year average. The central bank has “undertaken some foreign exchange transactions” in recent months to take the heat out of the exchange rate, and will boost the …

Wall Street declined, pushing the Dow Jones Industrial Average down from yesterday’s record-high close, as investors weighed signs of improvement in the US economy with concern about the Federal Reserve’s potential decrease of monetary stimulus. US Treasuries gained today, as recent increases in yields bolstered the appeal of fixed-income securities. Yields on the benchmark 10-year bond dropped four basis points …

New Zealand’s Reserve Bank will likely use its new macro prudential tools within the next six months to cool Auckland’s overheated housing market and follow up with interest rate rises, according to the New Zealand Institute of Economic Research. “The Reserve Bank will want to use and have to use macro prudential tools over the next six months,” Shamubeel Eaqub, …

Methven, the tapware maker, confirmed a 20 percent slide in annual profit that it first flagged last month, due to a weak Australian market. It is still mum on a potential acquisition. Profit dropped to $5.2 million, or 7.7 cents per share, in the 12 months ended March from $6.5 million, or 9.7 cents, a year earlier, the Auckland-based company …