Pumpkin Patch has placed its 36 United Kingdom outlets into administration, with the likelihood they will be closed under a restructuring programme estimated to cost between $28 million and $32 million.
The latest swarm of Christchurch earthquakes has prompted speculation that the lead rebuilding work contractor, Fletcher Building Ltd, might be considering further downgrades.
Oceana Gold is expecting increased productivity from its Reefton opencast mine on the West Coast after gold grades at Reefton did not meet earlier expectations.
Southern exporters are being cautioned to plan ahead for shipping space with the likelihood major shipping lines will again not be offering unscheduled vessel visits to take pressure off peak season loads.
Australia's largest insurer, QBE Insurance Group, came off a trading halt on the ASX yesterday to issue a shock profit warning, prompting a hammering of its shares and wiping 20% off its value.
Fletcher Building shares have shed $2.3 billion in market capitalisation during the past nine months, reflecting the increasingly dour outlook for the construction sector this year.
Global oil prices rose slightly yesterday to $US102 ($NZ128.50) a barrel as returning holidaymakers were hit by a 5c a litre price hike by the major petrol stations.
Ongoing weakness is expected to continue in the construction sector for most of 2012, reflecting last November's decline in residential dwelling consents which were at "very subdued levels", led by a South Island downturn.
Dunedin-based cancer diagnostic company Pacific Edge is one of five New Zealand companies invited to attend the United States' largest health care conference, beginning in San Francisco this week.
The Chatham Rock Phosphate company, which is proposing to mine seabed deposits of rock phosphate, is urgently seeking to raise cash from its 225 shareholders.
Retrospective consents have been granted to bulk storage company Marstel Terminals for its acquisitions of leasehold land at South Port in Bluff, Ports of Auckland and the Auckland Waterfront Development Agency.
It was just over a decade ago at Port Chalmers that similar workforce casualisation issues came to a head for Port Otago, prompting picketing and scenes of bitter confrontation; bordering on lawlessness at times during 2000-01.
Dunedin-based Skeggs Group has divested itself of most of its aquaculture interests as it continues to reinvest heavily in its expanding southern tourism holdings.
An additional shipping line has joined an existing export route from Port Chalmers to Malaysia. A new vessel will join the fixed weekly visit and arrive in a fortnight.
Two cranes work recently, on lifting pre-cast concrete panels into place on the $10 million Countdown supermarket being constructed for Progressive Enterprises at Andersons Bay Road, Dunedin.
The New Zealand dollar spiked to a two-month high against the US greenback yesterday on the back of positive economic data out of the United States; while the reopening of Asia-Pacific stock exchanges has been quiet, as expected.
Shares in East Otago-based Oceana Gold received a welcome new year boost yesterday, rising during the trading session with a 9% gain to reach $3 per share; albeit on low trading volumes.
Dunedin company Farra Engineering has been caught up in the more than $7 million of debt owed by failed Canterbury bus manufacturer Designline International Holdings (New Zealand).
New Zealand businesses are slightly more optimistic about the year-ahead than counterparts in the country's major trading parties.
Scott Technology managing director Chris Hopkins has been chosen as the Otago Daily Times Business Leader of the Year: 2011. Against a backdrop of unprecedented global economic volatility, Simon Hartley examines Scott's change in direction, diversification and fortunes over the past three years.
