The Court of Appeal has dismissed disgraced Auckland property developer Greg Olliver's appeal at being banned as a director or promoter of a company or taking part in the management of a company.
The judgment, made on May 22, upheld a High Court decision in October 2021 to uphold a ban on Olliver's business dealings.
The deputy registrar originally deemed Olliver to be a risk to the public for his mismanagement of his company BBG Holdings, which went into liquidation in 2019 owing just under $1 million. Other claims valued at $7.9m were rejected.
The High Court did however, commute the Registrar of Companies' stand down period from four-to-three years, based on "errors" the court found in the Registrar's decision.
The appeal may also have backfired on Olliver, who has placed friend and accountant Wayne Bailey as a director on his companies, in that the Registrar has been granted the right of cross-appeal – in an effort to push the prohibition back to four years.
The Commerce Commission has issued a warning to Cook Straight ferry provider StraitNZ Bluebridge Ltd, for potentially misrepresenting consumers rights to compensation when sailings were delayed or cancelled during 2023.
Rights under the Consumer Guarantees Act (CGA) mean consumers may be entitled to compensation for ferry delays or cancellations, where they were not caused by events outside of the operator’s control, such as bad weather.
ComCom Fair Trading general manager Vanessa Horne said Bluebridge’s terms and conditions previously stated it did not have any liability for ferry delays or cancellations, which directly contradicted the rights set out in the CGA.
“In the Commission’s view, this was likely a breach of the Fair Trading Act as it misled consumers of their potential rights under the CGA.”
In response to the Commission’s investigation Bluebridge improved its terms and conditions and made other process improvements.
Goodman Property Trust has posted after tax losses of $564.9 million, of which almost half, $275.5m, relates to the internalisation of the group's management function. That's up from a comparable loss of $135.4m last year.
Chief executive James Spence attributed a 9.5% drop in value during the 12 months to March 2024, to higher interest rates on investment yields.
The group's portfolio, valued at $4.5 billion, is focused on industrial and logistics properties. Occupancy levels for the year were at 99.5%, with a weighted average lease term of 6.2 years.
Operating earnings were up 9.3% at $121.4m during the year, from net property income of $203.1m.
Group guidance is for growth in cash earnings to about 7.5c per unit with cash distributions likely at the 6.5c level, up 4.8% year-on-year.
Spence said the internalisation of the real estate trust's management will allow the firm to pursue wider business opportunities, including the establishment of a funds management platform.
An 11% increase in portfolio value to $1.26 billion helped retirement village operator Arvida to a 69% jump in net profit after tax to $139 million for the year ended March 31.
The results, ahead of analysts' forecasts, were driven by $73.8m in resale gains and $35.9m generated through deferred management fees.
Chief executive Jeremy Nicoll said the later part of the financial year had seen recovery after a period of "challenging" levels of inflation, interest rates and a slow residential market which had impacted cash flow generation.
Nicoll said the group had focused on reducing operating costs during the period, and had identified an additional $10m of cost out benefits for the current year.
Dividends have been suspended while Arvida engages with the market on "various capital partnerships".
The group will spend between $150m-$160m during the current financial year, which includes the development of Queenstown Country Club care and apartments during the latter part of the year.