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Mercury Energy, the electricity retailer owned by partial privatisation candidate MightyRiverPower, has announced its first across the board price cuts in a decade. The cuts average 1.4 percent for most of its customers in its home territory, Auckland, and will apply from April 1. The cut is credited to an order by the government’s competition watchdog, the Commerce Commission, to …

In stark contrast to when I opened the curtains yesterday to reveal great disappointment, today Beijing truly turned it on, presenting a winter-wonderland outside as snow blanketed the city. Beijing looked truly stunning today, the snow cleared much of the pollution and the extended sight-lines showed a beautiful winter city – giving a whole new appreciation for what is truly a tremendously …

This morning was a pretty big disappointment when I opened my curtains to reveal one of the worst days for pollution since I arrived in Beijing. I made the decision to hold off on the Forbidden City for one more day and make the journey to the Silk Market, a place described to me as a hub for the weird, …

Today was Friday in Beijing, the final day of the working week and the last full-day of our work program until we reach Shanghai on Monday. First up was a meeting with Nicola Morris, General Manager of Fonterra’s farm operations here in China. She walked us through exactly how New Zealand’s largest company was getting on over in China. The …

New Zealand shares were sold off across the board, following a strong run earlier in the week. December quarter inflation figures showed a fall in prices in the last three months of last year, indicating sustained economic weakness, while Chinese growth data was soft. The NZX50 Index fell 32.63 points, or 0.77 percent, to 4614.17. Within the index, five stocks …

Government pension and savings funds collectively own more than 5 percent of 47 companies listed on the NZX and more than 10 percent of 17 companies. The analysis of combined market power of Accident Compensation Compensation, New Zealand Super Fund, Government Superfund and National Provident Fund is disclosed in an annual portfolio report by Treasury’s Crown Ownership Monitoring unit. The …

Market darling Diligent Board Member Services is tidying up the way it grants share options to employees after finding it granted too many options to senior staff and did not provide a prospectus to others. The company, whose board members include former NZX boss Mark Weldon, has embarrassingly had to advise NZX and the Financial Markets Authority of the breaches. …

New Image Group’s chairman Graeme Clegg is moving to take the colostrum-based health tonic maker private, saying a sharemarket listing no longer makes sense for the company. The company has received a notice of a takeover at 26 cents a share from New Image Trustee Ltd, a company controlled by Mr Clegg, who already owns just under 70 percent of …

Vehicle Inspection New Zealand (VINZ) is reiterating its don’t sell notice to shareholders, saying an offer from Jevic New Zealand is opportunistic, how to prevent premature ejaculation Jevic, a company that pre-vets imported used vehicles, has offered to buy all the shares of VINZ at $1.65 each, valuing the target at $4.1 million. VINZ chairman Ken Worsley said a report …

The New Zealand dollar was confined in a narrow range ahead of the release of the December quarter consumer price index (CPI) this morning. The kiwi was at 84.10 US cents at 8am, up from 83.93 US cents at 5pm on Thursday. “It traded in a 40 point range at best overnight ,” Mike Jones, from the sales team at …