Latest from Business Services

Blood and oil: Tragedy stains African move
Driving through Nairobi with blood pouring from a gunshot wound is not what Alan Mountfort visualised when he answered an ad to invest in an olive grove.

NZ firms told to pay up $53m
A US judge has ordered two NZ incorporated companies to pay US$40 million to 200 American investors for running a "mini Ponzi scheme".

Big private firms in spotlight
Private equity firms and other big privately-held companies may be forced to open their books.

Don't punish private companies, lawyer tells MED
Proposals to make private companies file financial statements as if they were publicly traded should be scrapped immediately, a lawyer says.

Self promotion key to getting work
Facebook and other social networking websites have become the hottest tools in the tech-savvy job-seeker's kit in this recession.

Email rules in the quest for work
Recruiter Michele Olney was horrified when she heard someone advocating good old-fashioned doorknocking as the way to get a job.

Blue Chip investors lose case
Pensioners Bruce and Judy Bartle have lost their case against the finance company that lent them more than their house was worth to invest in Blue Chip.

Fat pay packets still in the private sector - survey
Engineering bosses are among the best paid in NZ but public sector bosses aren't the fat cats of public perception, a survey finds.

Blue Chip verdict could open door
A High Court decision ordering a financial adviser to pay an elderly widow $250,000 could become a "benchmark" for other claims.

Hanover goes to court over teenager's $697
Hanover Finance and its part-owner Mark Hotchin are taking a small investor to the High Court over $697.96 owed to the man's teenage daughter.