Ailing Dick Smith stores on the chopping block

Retailer Dick Smith is facing the closure of up to 100 stores across New Zealand and Australia after its 2011 profits halved from the previous year. According to the company’s December financial statement, profit/comprehensive income for the year ended June 2011 was $3.6 million, down from $7.1 million for the year ended June 2010.

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Pacific Edge to set up shop in Pennsylvania

Pacific Edge is looking to open its first US franchise to market bladder cancer detection test, Cxbladder(R), by the end of the year. The New Zealand business is joining Pennsylvania research facility Hershey Center for Applied Research (HCAR), and plans to set up shop next to its technology suites.

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Sunscreens with a story to tell

Sunscreen is a functional grudge purchase. Buy, apply, reapply, resent. But there’s a buck to be made selling it, especially if you can apply your own gimmick to score brand preference – like these two local brands cashing in on our fear of the burn.

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Fyfe drops no hints on post-Air NZ future

Rob Fyfe may not know what lies ahead of him beyond December, but says Virgin head Sir Richard Branson hasn’t offered him a job. The Air New Zealand chief executive will step down at the end of the year and is yet to commit to anything new.

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Hell Pizza courts controversy again with fake syringes

Where there’s Hell Pizza, there’s drama, and the ever-controversial chain is now under fire for using fake-blood filled syringes in a promotion. One of the pens, designed to look like a syringe with the slogan “Hell, creating addicts since 1996”, was given to a boy aged 9 in Wellington, forcing the company to apologise.

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Database breeds familiarity between science and business

The Kiwi Innovation Network (KiwiNet) has launched a database of national research projects, inventions and patents, with an eye to connecting businesses, entrepreneurs and investors worldwide.

KiwiNet is a network of universities and crown research institutes, and its database currently hosts more than 70 innovations and profiles on various groups including the University of Otago, Landcare and Plant & Food Research.

Projects seeking startup capital include biopesticides, artificial muscle material allowing users to power and wear devices, and electrochemical cells able to remove water contaminants to provide clean drinking water for cattle.

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Geothermal plant on the cards

Rotorua could soon be getting a geothermal plant, with the Tikitere Limited Partnership investigating resources on land between Lake Rotoiti & SH 30, Rotorua. TLP has been approved by the Overseas Investment Office to acquire up to 902.244 hectares there and entered into a ‘build, operate and transfer’ agreement with New Zealand-owned Tikitere Geothermal Power Limited.

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Kiwibank outlook downgraded to ‘negative’

Standard & Poor’s has confirmed Kiwibank’s credit rating at AA- but downgraded its outlook from ‘stable’ to ‘negative’ after the rating of its owner, New Zealand Post, was reviewed. Earlier this month Kiwibank announced it was buying Gareth Morgan Investments for an undisclosed price in order to grow its wealth and KiwiSaver businesses. Meanwhile, New Zealand Post-owned Localist is undergoing a restructuring with a number of sales and management positions being disestablished.

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GrabOne embraces real-time, location-based offers

GrabOne is expanding its daily deal model with vouchers for real-time offers sent to consumers’ phones based on their location. Launching in Auckland today and in Wellington on February 8, GrabOne Instant allows users to simply enter their location to view food and beverage or entertainment deals for nearby businesses, and are refunded if they don’t have time to redeem the voucher. Merchants can upload and control deals via Android tablets, including making the offer a regular occurrence and managing the timeframe and volume available.

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Repressing the inner gutter mouth

Obscenities flow more freely in some offices than others. But while most people keep it to ‘acceptable’ filth, does anyone else find it tricky to maintain 100 percent cleanliness in the language stakes, wonders Penelope Whitson?

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