Giant food company Cerebos' hostile $71 million takeover bid for honey-based manufacturer Comvita will not be increased and it appears it will lapse by the acceptance closure date of December 22.
National residential building activity is at an 18-year low with overall total building activity around the country down 2.3% for the quarter to September - a 10-year low.
Oceana Gold's mine-life extension received another boost yesterday with exploration results adding up to three years to its Frasers underground operation at its Macraes site in East Otago.
Twenty-three people from around Otago and Southland have graduated from the Institute of Directors' Regional Director Development Programme, celebrating with a function at the Dunedin Club last night.
Timber industry export losses of $70 million during the past four months and an almost 50% downturn in the domestic house building market has left the sector "absolutely hammered," according to the New Zealand Timber Industry Federation.
Another southern franchise operator of Signature Homes has been placed in receivership; the third franchise operator in Otago or Southland during the past six and a-half years.
Dunedin-based biotechnology company Blis Technologies has posted a more than $800,000 loss for the half-year to September, largely because of a temporary lull in product promotion in the United States which slashed sales by more than $670,000.
The shares of a split Telecom - into New Chorus and New Telecom - debuted on the New Zealand stock exchange yesterday, both trading well as investors topped up their holdings.
Pressure is coming to bear on Cerebos to lift its hostile $71.6 million takeover bid for honey-based manufacturer Comvita, whose offer has been appraised as almost 40% under value by independent advisers Grant Samuel.
Goodman Fielder's Dunedin bakery, which has doubled production in the wake of the Christchurch earthquakes, could be in line for some redevelopment next year.
The Telecom demerger and company split begins today on the Australian stock exchange and on the New Zealand exchange on Wednesday.
Fletcher Building shares continued to shed value last week- dropping as low as $6.08 - with negative management commentary prompting a brokerage downgrade on earnings.
Leading outdoors retailer Kathmandu has signalled more tough trading conditions ahead, despite a 16% rise in sales to $56 million for the first 15 weeks of the present financial year.
Dunedin-based Select Recruitment has won a third consecutive Seek Annual Recruitment Award.
Listed Dunedin-based Motor Trade Finance has booked a slightly improved revenues and after-tax profit for the year to September; but returns from a $4.9 million fraud uncovered last year are yet to be quantified.
Fourth and fifth generation members of the Campbell family of Dunedin have combined to reopen an Alex Campbell Menswear branch in Mosgiel, after an 11-year absence.
A building boost by retirement village operator Ryman Healthcare underpinned a 15% profit increase to post a record half-year result of $41.4 million.
The Australasian Equity Partners Fund No 1 yesterday upped its 100% takeover bid for Pyne Gould Corporation by more than $8.5 million dollars, from 33c per share to 37c, and extended the deadline by a week.
Volatility in the New Zealand dollar has cost exporters an estimated $6.6 billion during the past two and a-half years, according to the New Zealand Manufacturers and Exporters Association.
Economic confidence is mixed around Otago, with businesses responding positively with some of their highest quarterly levels, while household confidence was the lowest across 14 regions.
