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The government will auction allocations for the radio spectrum band being set aside for fourth-generation, or 4G, mobile phones in the third quarter of the year, but won’t have a sweetener for iwi. Communications Minister Amy Adams said the auction process for the 700 megahertz bandwidth coming free from the switch-over to digital television broadcasting has been approved by Cabinet, …

Beleaguered APN News & Media, the Australasian publisher of the New Zealand Herald, has increased write-downs on the value of goodwill and its newspaper mastheads in its end of year result, to produce a net loss to Dec. 31 to A$455.8 million. The decision to add a further A$151 million on non-cash impairments to the A$485 million already announced at …

Specialty chemicals maker Nuplex Industries missed expectations as its net profit more than halved and the company cut its forecast for annual earnings, blaming the strength of the currency and weak trading conditions in Australia and Europe. Net profit sank to $11.5 million, or 5.8 cents per share, in the six months ended Dec. 31 from $24.1 million, or 12.3 …

Finished wood products manufacturer Tenon says it’s on the cusp of profitability as the prolonged slump in the US housing market comes to an end, but its cost-cutting and efficiency investments in New Zealand have been completely eroded by the high kiwi dollar. Tenon reported a reduced US$2 million loss in the six months to Dec. 31, down from US$6 …

Snakk Media, the latest brainchild of Hyperfactory co-founder Derek Handley, will list next month on the stock exchange’s small-cap bourse as a pre-cursor to a capital raising. The Auckland-based company, which aggregates publishers’ ad space on mobile devices and matches it to advertisers’ demand, will list on the NZAX on March 6 in a compliance listing, allowing future capital raising, …

Westpac Banking Corp’s New Zealand unit lifted first-quarter earnings 9.7 percent as it widened its interest rate margins, although its bottom line was eroded by unrealised changes in the value of its financial instruments. Profit after tax and before fair value movements climbed to $159 million in the three months ended Dec. 31 from $145 million a year earlier, according …

The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index retreated from a five-year high as disappointing US housing numbers failed to offer confidence. In afternoon trading in New York, the Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 0.06 percent, the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index fell 0.42 percent, while the Nasdaq Composite Index shed 0.55 percent. The S&P 500 yesterday closed at 1,530.94 the highest …

RBNZ Governor Graeme Wheeler yesterday laid out some home truths for markets. The NZD is not a one way bet. And markets looking for rate hikes in 2013 may be a step too far – unless the currency tanks that is. We come in this morning with the NZD/USD down a cent and the 2yr swap rate 6bps lower from …

New Zealand shares fell, led by Fletcher Building after the biggest company on the NZX 50 Index posted first-half earnings highlighting tough times in Australia. Fisher & Paykel Healthcare jumped after unexpectedly lifting its guidance. The NZX 50 fell 29.97 points, or 0.7 percent, to 4214.24. Within the index, 25 stocks fell, 16 rose and nine were unchanged. Turnover was …

The New Zealand dollar shed more than half a US cent after Reserve Bank governor Graeme Wheeler outlined the central bank’s criteria to intervene in currency markets, and said he was prepared to act when those were met. The kiwi fell to 84.04 US cents at 5pm in Wellington from 84.61 cents immediately before Wheeler’s speech and down from 84.37 …