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APN News & Media chairman Peter Hunt has this evening formally announced his resignation and that of CEO and Managing Director Brett Chenoweth and three other directors – John Maasland, Melinda Conrad and John Harvey –  to the ASX. The five resignations take effect from 9am tomorrow morning (Australian Eastern Seaboard time). A further director, Kevin Luscombe, will retire in …

The government will wait for the Supreme Court to rule on the Maori Council appeal against the partial privatisation of state-owned electricity company MightyRiverPower, even though it needed a decision by today to meet its own sales timetable. Prime Minister John Key told his post-Cabinet press conference that the Cabinet could have passed an Order in Council today to proceed …

Bank of New Zealand first-quarter profit sank 56 percent after the local unit of National Australia Bank took bigger impairment charges on its loan book and wrote down the value of financial instruments. Loan growth bolstered underlying earnings. Net profit fell to $126 million in the three months ended Dec. 31 from $289 million a year earlier, according to the …

Foreign Affairs Minister Murray McCully and Defence Minister Jonathan Coleman say New Zealand will continue to make a small but proportionate military commitment to the international mission in Afghanistan from May 2013, and remains committed to international efforts to improve the security and prosperity of Afghanistan. “The current NATO/ISAF mission is not scheduled to end until December 2014. As previously …

Tough words from The Australian’s veteran business commentator John Durie this afternoon. The bottom line in the APN News & Media battle is as things stand, the equity raising is dead. “Shareholders own the company, not the chief executive Brett Chenoweth and chairman Peter Hunt, who now have no choice but to resign. ” Durie then dishes out a basic …

Face-to-Face is a new feature from newzealandinc.com where we sit down for a chat with young business leaders from around the globe. We’ll be running a special series of these from China where we talk to young New Zealanders doing big things on the ground here. Today newzealandinc.com looks at China through the lens of a life-long educator. Ryan Scott …

The Australian reports that APN News & Media’s second-largest shareholder, Simon Marais, supports the potential resignations of the company’s chief executive and chairman, and will not support a proposed capital raising. “It’s better that they go because it’s a silly thing to do … putting the cart before the horse,”  Marais, the managing director of fund manager Allan Gray, told …

Independent News & Media, the Irish media group controlled by billionaire Denis O’Brien, wants a clean-out of APN News & Media’s boardroom after gunning for chief executive Brett Chenoweth’s head last week. The Irish group has made an official request for a general meeting that would put APN independent directors Chenoweth, Melinda Conrad, John Harvey, Kevin Luscombe, John Maasland and …

Freightways, the courier and data management company, posted an 11 percent gain in first-half profit to a record, meeting estimates, and said the outlook is for a slow pace of growth. Profit rose to $21 million in the six months ended Dec. 31, from $18.97 million a year earlier, the Auckland-based company said in a statement. Sales rose 8 percent …

 This is how the Australian Financial Review illustrated its story this morning spelling out the predicament facing APN – publisher of the New Zealand Herald and a raft of media assets across the Tasman: Regional newspapers, radio, outdoor advertising and digital. Judging by the indepth Australian media reports the stoush boils down to a strategic choice – raise capital to …