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Uber drivers rallying outside the Court of Appeal in Wellington on 19 March 2024. Photo: RNZ / Pretoria Gordon The multi-billion dollar global rideshare company Uber has lost a landmark appeal against a New Zealand Court, which has ruled that drivers should be treated as employees not contractors. In 2022 the Employment Court made a historic ruling against Uber, when four Uber drivers were granted workplace protection. This gave the drivers employee benefits such as leave entitlements, minimum wage and holiday pay. Uber appealed against the decision in June 2023, but today the court dismissed the appeal, ruling in favour of the drivers. Nurredin Abdurahman, one of the four drivers who took the original court case, said the decision is a hopeful one. "This is a win for all working people...

Port Taranaki. Photo: Supplied / Port Taranaki Challenging economic conditions and production difficulties in the energy sector have impacted Port Taranaki's financial result for the 2023-24 year. For the year ended 30 June, Port Taranaki recorded net profit after tax (NPAT) of $6.88 million, down from the previous year's all-time record of $13.87m. Chief executive Simon Craddock said the result was lower than budgeted and a reflection of difficult times, particularly for the port's energy customers and rising costs. "High interest rates and inflation, increased insurance costs, reduced gas production, lower log export volumes, and increased operational costs, have all combined to impact our result." A tax law change, in which the government removed tax deductions of industrial and comm...

Photo: 123rf Auckland developer Property for Industry (PFI) has reported a half-year profit of $21.2 million. Chief executive Simon Woodhams said PFI's leasing of industrial property in Auckland continues to generate cashflow and maintain stability. "While vacancies for industrial property in the Auckland market have begun to rise slightly, weakening demand is expected to be somewhat mitigated by high levels of new supply already being pre-committed," Woodhams said. An analyst said the solid result reflected higher financing costs and a dip in the value of its property portfolio to $2.1 billion. PFI changed its balance date and reported adjusted funds from operations for the six months to June, slightly below the prior year. Its portfolio is 98.6 percent occupied (1.4 percent vacancy) wi...

File pic Photo: 123RF Retirement village operator Summerset's bottom line profit has fallen 23 percent as it faced higher tax costs and due to a smaller increase in property values, but leaving aside one-offs, its underlying profit was steady. Key numbers for the six months ended June compared with a year ago: Net profit $102.2m vs $133.1m Revenue $151.6m vs $128.2m Underlying profit $89.9m vs $87.2m Income tax (expense)/credit ($18.6m) vs $5m Interim/final dividend 11.3 cents per share vs 11.3 cps The NZX-listed company's underlying profit was at the upper end of the $87 million to $90m guidance it provided in July. "We feel, in the current market, we've shown the continued strength of our sales pipeline, our disciplined approach to costs and the demand for our retirement living opti...

File pic Photo: Sorin Gheorghita for Unsplash A Hamilton dairy company has been fined $420,000 for using false claims on its packaging. Milkio Foods Limited had descriptions like '100 per cent Pure New Zealand' and 'from the clean green pasture based dairy farms in New Zealand' on its ghee products - despite using butter imported from India. It also used false and incomplete information to retain approval to use the FernMark logo - a trusted symbol to identify products made in New Zealand. The Commerce Commission was referred the case by the Ministry for Primary Industries and charged Milkio with 15 breaches of the Fair Trading Act. The company pleaded guilty to the charges. When handing down the sentence Judge Thomas Ingram emphasised the significant damage the misrepresentations could...

Parents say some children need melatonin to get to sleep. Photo: Quin Tauetau/RNZ To get the prescription-only sleep medication melatonin for her 10-year-old daughter, Fern, a mother in Wellington, has to jump through a few hoops. First, she finds an online retailer overseas that will ship to New Zealand. These are becoming less and less common as Medsafe works to prevent international retailers like iHerb from selling melatonin to Kiwis. Then, the package needs to get through customs undetected so she only orders one bottle at a time. Fern's most recent package - a bottle with 150 cherry-flavour pills, each containing 5mg of melatonin - arrived safely two weeks ago. Her family's acute sleep needs are sorted for the next few month. "She is thriving everywhere in life except sleep and yo...