From deep inside an office tower on Shortland St, The Biz encounters a strange and bewildering tale: "The Sharebroking Firm and the Two-Letter Curse".
The first clue was senior investment banker John Moore leaving ABN Amro in January for the bustle of Hong Kong.
The glimmer of a pattern started to emerge
when Jennifer Martin left the firm's corporate finance team. Then, the head of equities, John McMahon, announced he was packing his bags. Now, Janette Mallett - a PA - is dashing for the door.
Very spooky. This trail of coincidence leads inevitably to a single question: how long can ABN Amro's head of research, "genial Jimmy" Miller remain of this firm?
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Guinness Peat Group is normally an astute operator in the corporate raiding game.
So it was a surprise to read in the Financial Times last week that Sir Ron Brierley's investment company was forced to make an embarrassing admission that it had got its numbers wrong.
The gaffe related to GPG's play for 25 per cent of the De Vere Hotel group.
Its 415p-a-share offer was based on a comparative table of earnings multiples relating to previous hotel group acquisitions supplied by outside consultants.
One analyst told the Times GPG was likely to be "spitting feathers" over the performance of its financial adviser, saying: "An awful lot of effort goes into preventing mistakes like this.
"It does make them look quite half-baked and suggests they have not done their own work but relied on third parties. Whatever fees GPG is paying it is likely to question the advice very strongly."
But GPG said it would "be writing to De Vere shareholders demonstrating why it continues to believe that the De Vere Hotels division would be worth more as a private business".
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ANZ's Australian boss John McFarlane was keen to tell everyone who would listen last week about how bright the bank's future is looking.
Its purchase of the National Bank and other strategic changes spurred lengthy presentations during a Melbourne-based teleconference.
But one comment has sparked worry in Biz circles.
"We're on a journey," McFarlane said enthusiastically. Remember the last boss to say that? It was, of course, a favourite utterance of former All Black coach John Mitchell.
The Biz hopes this won't be another case of "John who?"
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Business lobby group the Local Government Forum has declared its "Hot Council 2004" awards a success in terms of drawing attention to the need for more business-friendly councils.
Tauranga was judged the best metropolitan council, Ashburton and South Waikato were the best provincial bodies, and Taranaki's was the best regional council.
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The people have spoken - advertisers and marketers take note.
A survey presented to the American Association of Advertising Agencies last month found that consumers have had a gutsful.
Of those polled, 54 per cent said they would avoid buying products that overwhelmed them with advertising, 61 per cent agreed the amount of advertising "is out of control", and a whopping 69 per cent were interested in products or services designed to skip or block ads.
A third even said they would be willing to have a slightly lower standard of living to live in a society that did not have marketing and advertising.
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Because they're worth it ... Canadian ice-cream giant CoolBrands is to start making frozen snacks for dogs.
The company - North America's third largest ice-cream maker - will license the brand name of dog-treat company Dogsters for its new line.
From deep inside an office tower on Shortland St, The Biz encounters a strange and bewildering tale: "The Sharebroking Firm and the Two-Letter Curse".
The first clue was senior investment banker John Moore leaving ABN Amro in January for the bustle of Hong Kong.
The glimmer of a pattern started to emerge
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