Oliver Lewis

To mitigate rates rises and fund services, Christchurch City Council will be asking its commercial arm to frontload dividend payments and provide $47 million extra over the next three years.The move, endorsed by councillors at a meeting on Wednesday, drew a forthright warning from Christchurch City Holdings (CCHL), which controls assets worth more than $5 billion on behalf of the council.CCHL chair Abby Foote – who has repeatedly spelled out the constrained financial position of the group and the need to start paying down its $2.3b of deb...

Port of Auckland has upgraded its earnings guidance from $52 million to $52-55m as it continues to win back market share from Port of Tauranga.The port, owned by Auckland council, released the updated guidance on Thursday as councillors continue to mull a proposal, which was consulted on as part of the long-term plan (LTP), to sell an operating lease for the port.Consultants engaged by the council put the indicative value of a 30-year lease at $2 billion – proceeds Auckland mayor Wayne Brown wants to put towards a diversified fund for the...

Shareholders of the listed company running the New Zealand stock exchange have approved a significant hike to directors' fees, despite vocal minority opposition.NZX, which operates domestic capital markets and owns fund manager Smartshares, held its annual general meeting in Auckland on Thursday.A resolution to increase the size of the director remuneration pool by 38% to $779,000 passed with 83.2% of votes cast in support, according to results uploaded to the exchange following the meeting.Explaining the increase, NZX chair John McMahon,...

NZX shareholders have delivered its board a mauling, with more than a quarter of the shares voted opposing the re-election of the stock exchange operator’...

Auckland Transport wants to be ready to start work on a congestion charging system once enabling legislation passes, likely later this year or early next.The council-owned transport agency started advertising on the government electronic tender service (GETS) website last Friday for a consultant or consortium to update previous work on congestion charging – although Auckland Transport (AT), like Auckland mayor Wayne Brown, prefers the term time of use charging – to design a preferred scheme and produce a business case for decision-m...

According to a new survey, the New Zealand infrastructure sector is in a gloomy mood, with firms expecting financial conditions to deteriorate over the year.Par...

Global management consultants McKinsey have delivered recommendations to KiwiRail about lifting performance at the state-owned rail operator.KiwiRail chief executive Peter Reidy wouldn't be drawn on specifics, but BusinessDesk understands McKinsey suggested ways to simplify the business and identified possible targets to grow the share of freight carried by rail.According to its annual report for the 2023 financial year, KiwiRail had a 13% share of the total freight task in New Zealand, meaning the vast majority was carried by trucks. In...

Roger Gray is the chief executive of Port of Auckland. An experienced leader, Gray started his career in the Australian Army, retiring as a lieutenant colonel specialising in logistics. He arrived in New Zealand in 2007 as the managing director of Quality Bakers at Goodman Fielder before joining Air NZ, where he was elevated to group general manager for airports under Christopher Luxon.I was born in Melbourne, in the middle-class suburb of Brighton. I'm the youngest of three. My brother is a barrister in Melbourne, and my sister is a poli...

If Dunedin councillors approve a sale, there’s likely to be strong investor interest in acquiring South Island lines company Aurora Energy, with newly rel...

The battle for control of struggling construction firm Fletcher Building is heating up, with several large shareholders reportedly throwing their support behind former Port of Tauranga chief executive Mark Cairns to become its next chair. The dual-listed giant has had a torrid year, posting a $120 million first-half loss and losing its chair, Bruce Hassall, and CEO, Ross Taylor – both of whom brought forward their resignations amid ongoing shareholder discontent. Chief financial officer Bevan McKenzie also resigned in the...