The week in review

By Nick Stride, business editor

Friday 19th July 2002

Technology investor Advantage Group's $10 million capital notes issue closed fully subscribed. Advantage was seeking funds for organic growth, acquisition, working capital and balance sheet strength.

Pyne Gould Guinness bought Roxburgh, Otago-based Wards Horticulture for an undisclosed sum. Wards, a horticulture and viticulture supplier, operates in the rapidly expanding Central Otago region.

Dental practice software supplier Software of Excellence cancelled its rights issue, announced on July 4, citing the slide in international sharemarkets. Chief executive Paul Weatherly said it wasn't essential the company raised money now. The issue would be revisited once markets had settled.

United Networks' director Don Bacon, a former chief executive, resigned from its board. Mr Bacon, now employed by UNL's majority owner Aquila, has moved to Britain to manage the company's interests there.

Carter Holt Harvey unit Global Licensing and Innovation will market ProPak, a recloseable, accurately pouring package devised by two Brisbane inventors. The packages are designed for powdered or granular products.

Motor developer Wellington Drive Technologies received European certification for an air-moving motor and controller for which it has an order from a customer whose name may not be divulged. It said production on the order was running smoothly at its Auckland facility.

Axa chief financial officer Mathew Slater resigned on Tuesday. The company said his replacement would be made shortly.

Fletcher Challenge Forests confirmed it had secured a $US600 million ($1.23 billion) loan facility to fund its proposed repurchase of the Central North Island Forests. The facility also replaces FFS' existing debt and involves BNZ, HSBC, National Bank, ANZ, Rabobank, Citibank, Westpac and Credit Suisse.

E-cademy Holdings, a company struggling to establish an online learning platform, allotted 7.5 million shares to A & F Dowling, bringing the number of shares on issue to 921 million.

Genesis Research & Development netted a $6 million grant from quasi-government body FiRST (Foundation for Research Science and Technology) over four years to research plant signalling processes. Genesis said the goal was to improve crop yields and reduce chemical use through applications that will not require genetic modification.

Telecom told a Commerce Commission hearing on "telecommunications service obligations" (the Kiwi Share) that cancelling the obligation would probably oblige it to charge for local calls and differentiate its line charges, resulting in higher charges to unprofitable customers.

In a week in which Auckland mayor John Banks was obliged to defend his innocuous remark that he would prefer a trade sale of the city council's Auckland Airport stake, Australia's Macquarie Airports said it was not interested in bidding.

New Zealand's largest port operator Ports of Auckland says its container volumes for the year to June 30 rose 5% on the previous year with breakbulk volumes up 12% to 4.8 million tonnes.

Independent Newspapers' merged Dominion Post newspaper expects to be making bigger profits from 2004 after writing off costs of $8.4 million for redundancy payments.

Consolidated Extrusions - a joint venture between Austral Bronze Crane Copper and Simsmetal - has applied to the Commerce Commission to buy MCK Group and MCK Pacific. The acquisition relates Austral and Simsmetal's brass and copper alloy extrusions and distribution business and the commission will determine whether the merger will substantially lessen competition.

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