Fletcher Building is this week expected to post a flat first-half after-tax profit of between $133 million and $141 million with little in the way of surprises, but the result might reflect the bottom of the recessionary trough and recovery ahead.
The imminent reporting season for listed companies got under way this week, with Telecom the first major company to report, yesterday. ODT Business Reporter Simon Hartley runs the rule over the year ahead and company expectation with Forsyth Barr broker Suzanne Kinnaird and Craigs Investment Partners broker Peter McIntyre.
Telecom yesterday posted a better than expected after-tax profit of $80 million for the quarter to December, but brokers were lukewarm to the result and highlighted concerns over languishing growth for the year ahead.
Up to 16 staff from Dunedin law firm Anderson Lloyd Lawyers' three South Island offices - which employ 150 people - could lose their jobs under a restructuring proposal put to staff on Wednesday.
Listed company Steel and Tube Holdings has booked a massive 85%, or $17.6 million, decline in its after-tax profit to $3.2 million for trading during its half year to December.
Beleaguered South Canterbury Finance's preference shares are languishing as investors await details of proposed restructuring and the announcement of a worse than expected half-year result.
Manufacturing activity during January declined nationally and while Otago-Southland was the least affected of the four regions, it remained in contraction.
Brokerage firm Craigs Investment Partners is making "no comment" on industry speculation Deutsche Bank is interested in taking a 20%-30% stake in the countrywide firm.
The year-long $7 million construction of three new floors on Otago House in Princes St is near completion, with scaffolding coming off the now 13-storey building and internal fit-outs about to start.
Telecom's quarterly after-tax profit is expected to be down 20%-40%, with southern broking houses forecasting declining revenues and debt repayments among immediate issues at hand.
Southern broking firm Forsyth Barr has rejected speculation it is in discussions with listed Australian-owned Macquarie Group over a sale deal, yesterday telling staff no negotiations were under way.
Summerset retirement homes' Dunedin development, its first in the South Island, could be a $40 million to $50 million investment with villas, multilevel apartments and hospital-care facilities for up to 250 people, in Kaikorai.
Dual-listed L&M Energy will be going to shareholders and institutional investors within weeks to potentially raise up to $10 million - if its proposed takeover of private sister company L&M Coal Seam Gas goes ahead later this month.
Otago Daily Times business reporter Simon Hartley investigates the background of possibly the largest fraud perpetrated against a government institution - a vulnerable hospital already in financial crisis.
Dual-listed coal seam gas explorer L&M Energy, formerly L&M Petroleum, starts an eight-date roadshow for shareholders in Dunedin on Tuesday on its merger proposal with private sister company Coal Seam Gas.
A Dunedin-founded personal and organisational development programme is being promoted in Bahrain during the next three weeks and could be included in the expansion of its polytechnic facilities.
Briscoes has mirrored the surprise result of Hallenstein Glasson - forecasting an annual profit rise of more than 70% - following lacklustre flat trading results of The Warehouse and Smiths Group recently.
Stock markets around the world took a hammering yesterday, losing billions of dollars in value of between 2% and 3% in general from bourses across the United States, Australia, Asia and early trading in Europe.
The cleanup from the collapse and subsequent liquidation of Dunedin-based private investment company Hurricane House in early 2009 - leaving about 50 southern investors and creditors out of pocket by $4.2 million - may not be settled until 2011.
New Zealand's unemployment rate hit 7.3% in the quarter to December, up from 6.5%, to touch its highest level for more than 10 years - with young unemployed in the forefront of increases.
