Shares of Air New Zealand rose 6 cents today to trade at $1.50, ahead of the announcement at the annual general meeting in Auckland that the company is to extend its share buyback scheme for a further year. Air NZ shares closed last night at $1.44, opened at $1.455 and by 11.45am were trading at $1.50. The buyback was announced …

Reserve Bank governor Graeme Wheeler has reiterated that his two biggest challenges are the over-valued currency and the housing market, in the 2013 annual report, which shows the central bank made a dividend payment of $175 million in the latest financial year. “The two most significant challenges facing the bank at present are the overvalued New Zealand dollar and overvalued …

Vital Healthcare Property Trust, New Zealand’s largest listed medical and healthcare property investor, plans to spend A$28 million to redevelop a hospital in Sydney and A$1.9 million to extend a hospital near Newcastle, to meet rising demand for healthcare services. Vital Healthcare plans to add new operating theatres, extend day surgery facilities, add new inpatient wards, convert shared rooms to …

New Zealand shares rose, pushing the NZX 50 Index to an all-time high, as Kathmandu’s record earnings prompted analysts to lift their estimates, and investors bought companies with reliable earnings and dividends including SkyCity Entertainment Group. The NZX 50 rose 54.136 points, or 1.1 percent, to 4764.723. Within the index, 22 stocks rose, 14 fell and 14 were unchanged. Turnover …

Fonterra Cooperative Group is promising a record payout to its farmers next year, while keeping dividends unchanged, underlining the competing needs of its suppliers and the investors in its exchange-traded units. Fonterra Shareholders’ Fund units ended the day up 0.4 percent to $7.10, having initially sold off after the world’s biggest dairy exporter posted its full-year results. Normalised earnings before …

The New Zealand dollar extended its decline in local trading after government figures showed the biggest monthly trade deficit in almost five years, and after rotten apple exports into China became the latest unsanitary food consignment to the country’s biggest trading partner. The kiwi fell to 82.27 US cents at 5pm in Wellington from 82.70 cents at 8am and 83.35 …

Kathmandu Holdings rose to an all-time high as analysts upgraded estimates following the outdoor equipment and clothing retailer record full-year earnings and bullish outlook statement. Shares in Kathmandu touched a record $3.40, and were recently up 5.4 percent to $3.35, taking their gain so far this year to 60 percent. The shares gained 12 percent yesterday after the company reported …

Hansells Food Group breached a lending covenant with ANZ Bank New Zealand because of a loss of earnings at its Australian subsidiary stemming from a customer’s trademark dispute with another company. The Hansells unit had been making products for the customer under a brand which became the subject of a dispute and subsequently had “significant lost sales,” according to its …

Trade Me, New Zealand’s largest online auction site, wants to increase the pool of fees for its directors by 23 percent to accommodate paying for two director positions which were previously funded by Fairfax Media. The company will ask shareholders at its annual meeting in Wellington next month to increase the fee pool for its directors to $800,000 from $650,000, …

The liquidator for the failed Mainzeal construction group is preparing to face off with several related entities over some “highly intermingled” transactions. BDO’s Brian Mayo-Smith, Andrew Bethell and Stephen Tubbs are chasing $46.6 million in related party debt in separate actions as they try to untangle the effects of two significant restructures two years prior to the collapse that had …