Investment arrears and shortfalls of more than $20 million in companies associated with South Canterbury Finance founder Allan Hubbard have been highlighted by the Government-appointed statutory managers.
Freightways has slightly improved its operating performance during the past quarter to September, but retains a cautious outlook based on a continued slow economic recovery.
The Serious Fraud Office will not be laying charges against the group of failed Blue Chip companies - a decision likely to anger more than 2000 investors owed more than $80 million.
Southern businessmen Bill Baylis and Stuart McLauchlan, appointed to ailing South Canterbury Finance a year ago as independent directors, remain on the boards of Scales Corporation and Helicopters New Zealand, which are for sale.
Listed New Zealand Oil & Gas does not believe it can meet its growth objectives in New Zealand and is considering offshore acquisitions and exploration.
Australian banks' full-year cash net profits are forecast to be resilient but also revealing some "sluggish" revenue outlooks ahead in the face of a weak lending growth and rising borrowing costs.
Dual-listed coal-bed methane gas explorer L&M Energy's estimated gas reserves in Ohai, Southland, have been upgraded by almost 60%, from 173 petajoules of energy to 274 petajoules, in an independent report.
Queensland-based and Australian-listed Galilee Energy Ltd, whose working coal deposits are in Southland and the West Coast, has confirmed it wants to float a company this month to raise cash for future exploration and development.
South Island listed companies have rallied from a mid-year slump to notch up a 8.5% - or total $348 million - gain in the market capitalisations of the combined 30 companies.
The Serious Fraud Office yesterday executed search warrants in Auckland on WSD Global Markets Ltd, a New Zealand stock exchange-accredited futures and options company.
New Zealand's economic recovery remains slow but it is unlikely to fall into a "double-dip" recession despite uncertainties in the global economy, according to the ASB's quarterly economic forecast, released yesterday.
Norman Evans, of Dunedin, chief executive of Upstart incubator, launched his self-published book Becoming an Entrepreneur yesterday at the Temple Gallery.
PGG Wrightson Finance - one of just seven entities still covered by the Government's extended retail deposit guarantee scheme - has secured a three-year $100 million revolving-credit bank facility.
Failed South Canterbury Finance is in the Serious Fraud Office's sights after the SFO launched an investigation into "related party transactions" which may not have been disclosed to the Government.
A production downgrade of as much as 45% by coking coal specialist Pike River Coal has prompted a revision of its funding requirements - and the possibility about $25 million will be wiped off its earnings before interest, tax and amortisation next year.
The full details of whether the proposed merger between Port Otago and Lyttelton Port of Christchurch was viable are unlikely ever to be divulged, other than it would have cost Port Otago's 100% owner the Otago Regional Council tens of millions of dollars to buy into the partnership.
Interest remains high in the South Island's deposits of high-grade specialist hard-coking coal for export, and its poor cousin, low-grade lignite - southern resources long measured in billions of tonnes.
Failed South Canterbury Finance's 35,000 investors will be repaid the $1.6 billion capital and interest they are owed next Wednesday, following the company's receivership in late-August.
Manufacturing in Otago during September reflected the national and international trends of "flat" activity for the period.
Further weakening of the US dollar yesterday was reflected in record spot gold prices around the world and the Australian dollar almost reaching parity with the greenback.
