Simon Hartley

Mergers and acquisitions of New Zealand companies are expected to be underpinned by a resurgent interest from foreign investors and iwi in the year ahead.

Hirepool's North Island operations were hard-hit in December and January by a series of thefts of trucks, cars, excavators and trucks, potentially worth hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Briscoes has delivered one of the few good news retail stories, booking a record full-year profit gain of 17% to $39.3 million, including a $1.34 million earthquake-related claim.

All eyes are on supermarket giant Foodstuffs and what it will do with its 10% takeover-blocking stake in The Warehouse.

Port Otago will start a month-long trial of harbour dredging soon to assess the suitability of its suction dredge vessel New Era to undertake the ''Next Generation'' dredging programme.

New Zealand's love affair with housing continues unabated, as February residential property values rose nationally 6.4% on a year ago - or 20.3% above the market peak of late 2007.

Dunedin angler Dwayne Willcock with his winning salmon, caught from a boat and reaching 6.10kg at Sunday's weigh-in for the annual Otago Salmon Anglers Club competition.

Asking prices for houses nationally have breached an average of more than $500,000 for the first time - with the Central Otago Lakes district average 17.5% higher again, while the rest of Otago slumbers more than 40% below the national average.

Otago's economic growth remains high, but the region, after being one of the top three for the past year, has now slipped to sixth place out of 14.

United States wine underpinned a 4% increase in half-year global sales of Delegat's Groups, which rose to 1.12 million cases.

Expansion is paying dividends for SBS Bank, which has booked a 2.6% increase in lending growth to $2.6 billion - largely from the heated Auckland house market.

Diversified agri-business group Scales Corporation has beaten its initial public offering (IPO) financial guidance, its $18.4 million, full-year after-tax profit more than 15% higher than expected.

National carrier Air New Zealand has reported dips in its half-year earnings and profits, with the positive effect of lower fuel prices still expected to flow through its balance sheet.

New Zealand and Australia's largest camper van operator, Tourism Holdings, more than doubled its half-year profit and forecasts expectations of booking at least a $17 million profit for the full year.

Rural services company PGG-Wrightson has delivered a strong first-half result, but the remainder of its trading year comes with some cautions.

Drought conditions and overseas asset writedowns have cut a swath through Mighty River Power's earnings which plunged from $124 million a year ago to $8 million.

Retirement village operator Summerset Group, which now has more than $1 billion in assets, booked a record $24.4 million in underlying profit for its full-year result.