12 Jun 2015

Business briefs

2:48 pm on 12 June 2015

A round-up from Radio New Zealand's business reporters:

UDC Finance CEO promoted

UDC Finance chief executive Tessa Price has been promoted to the role of chief of staff to the ANZ Group's chief executive, Mike Smith.

She has been the head of the bank's UDC Finance arm, for the past two years.

She takes up the Melbourne-based position in mid-July and will be responsible for overseeing the bank's strategies and initiatives, operations and issues.

The bank said it would make an announcement regarding her replacement at UDC, in due course.

Ms Price has 17 years' experience in financial institutions in New Zealand and Australia, including American Express, Commonwealth Bank and Esanda.

Metlifecare CEO to retire

The chief executive of the retirement village operator, Metlifecare, will retire next year.

Alan Edwards will step down the end of June 2016 after six years in charge.

Hydro lakes fuller, says Meridian

Meridian Energy says hydro lakes are fuller, while electricity demand has picked up.

The electricity generator and retailer said national storage increased to 103 percent of the historical average by 10 June.

South Island storage now sits at 101 percent of the average, and the North Island is at 116 percent of the average.

Meridian's May month inflows stood at 163 percent of historical average.

National electricity demand rose 0.4 percent in May compared with the same period a year earlier, and 2.3 percent higher for the year.

VMob doubles its annual loss

The mobile phone marketing platform, VMob, has doubled its annual loss.

The company lost $4.4 million in the year to March, compared with a $2 million loss in the previous year.

Revenue jumped more than fivefold to $2.9 million, compared with $512,000.

VMob has been investing heavily to increase its size and take advantage of the growing international demand for mobile marketing.

Its clients include the brewer Anheuser-Busch, 7-Eleven, and McDonald's USA and Japan.

GeoOp reports $4.9m loss

GeoOp has reported a loss of $4.9 million in the 12 months ended in March, widening from a $4.6 million net loss, the year earlier.

The company has issued a second interim financial report to keep the market informed of its recent financial performance, after moving its financial year end to June.

It said revenue rose more than two-and-a-half-times to $1.3 million, with revenue from subscriptions also more than doubling to $915,000.

The number of licensed users rising 88 percent to nearly 18,000.

Guest nights rise 3.6 percent in April

The number of guest nights rose 3.6 percent in April compared with a year earlier, with international visitors accounting for most of the increase.

After removing seasonal variation, national guest nights fell by 0.7 percent in April 2015, compared with March 2015, following rises in the previous two months.

G3 Group to launch on NXT index

The NZX says G3 Group is launching on the NXT index on 18 June.

G3 operates three business divisions, including tourist mail operations in Britain and business and retail mail operations in New Zealand.