The week in review

"We probably paid too much," Air New Zealand chairman Sir Selwyn Cushing confessed as profits all but disappeared in the wake of last year's Ansett acquisition. Sky-high fuel prices, the Olympics, the weak New Zealand dollar and increased competition from nuts'n'cola airlines in Australia were also blamed for the airline's 97% lower $3.8 million December first-half profit.

A maelstrom of politicking erupted around the 2002 scheduled launch of the Alliance-sponsored People's Bank. Opposition politicians have been broadcasting details of the "confidential" business plan which shows poorer customers won't be welcome, that the taxpayer may be asked to top up the initial $78.2 million injection and that it will go head-to-head with second-tier financial institutions.

Sir Ron Brierley's GPG is seeking a break-up of UK motor vehicles group Inchcape, in which it has a 16% stake. It says restructuring and sales have left the businesses "lacking sufficient substance" and that cash should be returned to shareholders.

Swedish consumer electronics giant Electrolux bought the Australian and New Zealand businesses of appliance maker Email.

AMP Henderson Private Capital has invested $4.4 million in telecommunications technology company Zeacom Group, which is targeting the US small to medium-sized business market for its call-handling software.

Nufarm said it would sell its 19.9% stake in IAMA now that it had achieved its aim of rationalising farm distribution, realising a profit of "a few million."

HJ Heinz New Zealand issued $90 million of 6.85% February 2005 bonds to help refinance Heinz Wattie's and Tegel Foods.

The two major dairy co-operatives, New Zealand Dairy Group and Kiwi Co-operative Dairies, raised their forecasts for the season's payouts to $4.80 a kilogram of milksolids.

Vending Technologies is licensing its VendSmart vending machine-management software brand to independent operators in Australia and New Zealand and plans to expand into the US next year.

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