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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...

[sMethanex uses 40 percent of the country's gas supply. NZ needs a plan in case it leaves, experts say. The Methanex plant in Waitara Valley. Photo: Google maps The country's current power supply crisis has highlighted the role of the biggest gas user, Methanex, which uses 40 percent of the country's supply. The Taranaki methanol plant is shutting until the end of October and selling its gas to Contact Energy and Genesis. Like Tiwai Point aluminum smelter in Southland, the methanol plants are a legacy of Think Big, the Government programme which built infrastructure and factories with taxpayer funding. The Methanex plants were built to produce the petrochemical methanol for export, taking advantage of Taranaki's offshore gas fossil fields. With gas supplies running low, energy expert...

(File image) Photo: RNZ / Samuel Rillstone A door installation company has been ordered to pay more than $200,000 after a pastor was crushed to death by a roller door at her West Auckland church. Pastor Helen Verry, 44, died at Church Unlimited in Glendene on 30 January, 2022 after being seriously injured by the collapse of a 273kg powered roller grille door. Verry was the youngest of 15 children. One of her brothers was former All Black Va'aiga Tuigamala, who died less than a month after Verry, at the age of 52. Following her death, the company that installed the door back in 2009, Scotty Doors, was charged by WorkSafe under the Health and Safety Employment Act 1992. A similar failure now would have harsher penalties due to the Health and Safety at Work Act of 2015, WorkSafe said. Last...