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There were 383 business liquidationa in Auckland in the second quarter of this year, compared to 56 in Wellington, 118 in the rest of the North Island, and 61 in Canterbury. (file image) Photo: RNZ / Cole Eastham-Farrelly Auckland businesses are bearing the brunt of the current downturn, new data suggests. Centrix data shows the number of business liquidations is increasing in all regions, but most sharply in Auckland, where there were 383 in the second quarter of this year, compared to 56 in Wellington, 118 in the rest of the North Island, and 61 in Canterbury. That equates to about 1.8 business closures per 1000 business in Auckland, well ahead of the rate of less than one per 1000 being recorded in Wellington. Economist Shamubeel Eaqub said that rate was likely to get worse. "This is...

The Verkerks brand markets salamis and small goods into many New Zealand supermarkets. File picture Photo: RNZ / Cole Eastham-Farrelly Small goods meat business Verkerks is selling its Mid-Canterbury abattoir to a large Japanese meat company for $15 million. New Zealand-based Japanese subsidiary SFJ Holdings was granted approval by the Overseas Investment Office to acquire the company's meat processing plant in Ashburton in June - under the Benefit to New Zealand test. The pending multi-million dollar sale would include 37 hectares of land for meat processing and all shares to Ashburton Meat Processors, owned by Verkerks. The well-known Verkerks brand markets salamis and small goods into many New Zealand supermarkets - and its founder Aalt Verkerk started the company, officially named A...

An investigation into the collapse of a power pylon in Northland that cut power to most of the region has found contractor error was to blame. Omexom was carrying out routine maintenance to the baseplate of Tower 130, a Transpower transmission tower servicing 100,000 properties, when the pylon fell on 20 June. The report, released on Thursday morning, said a relatively inexperienced and inadequately supervised worker removed nuts from three of the four legs of the pylon, compromising its stability and causing it to rupture and fall. And it was not the first time nuts and washers were removed from more than one leg of a pylon at once, which did not align with the contractor's own standard practice. At the time the government called it "completely unacceptable" with the cost of the widesprea...

A large power pylon has come down. Photo: Supplied / Top Energy A full investigation into how a Northland power pylon fell over causing widespread electricity outages has confirmed insufficient supervision of an inexperience worker resulted in too many bolts being removed. There have been calls for compensation following the June outage which one economist predicted cost the Northland economy $60m. Initial reports found too many nuts were removed from bolts during routine maintenance by Omexom on the transmission tower and its baseplate near Glorit, north of Auckland. An independent investigation, released Thursday morning, concluded that was the case. "Standard practice, taught to its civil works field staff, was to remove all nuts from only one tower foundation leg at a time," it said...

Banks use test rates to make sure that home loan applicants could cope with movements in interest rates. Photo: RNZ Banks are lowering the test rates they use to check whether borrowers can afford home loans, and brokers expect more cuts to follow. Banks use test rates to make sure that home loan applicants could cope with movements in interest rates. They are set higher than the rates currently being charged. They had been about 8.95 percent, but this week two main banks cut by about 20 basis points and 25 basis points. It comes as wholesale rates fall on the expectation that the Reserve Bank will begin cutting the official cash rate towards the end of this year. Mortgage broker David Windler said he would expect other banks to follow. "The impact of that depends on how much debt you'r...