Biz Bytes

AUSTRALIAN Transpacific Industries Group has applied to the Commerce Commission for clearance to buy half of the shares in Manawatu Waste Ltd, which services New Plymouth. The deal would also see TPI acquire the South Island assets and businesses of Enviro Waste Services Ltd. The Commission will look at whether the acquisition would have a detrimental effect on competition in the market. This decision is due later this month.

IF you’ve noticed an increase in spam lately then you’re not alone — the bad news is that it will get worse. After a huge surge in spam late last year there were reports of delays in emails sent from Xtra accounts earlier this week. Multinational security firm Secure Computing estimates that about 80% of emails are spam and this could rise to 95% by the end of the year. Most of this will be image spam which puts the message as a picture followed by lines of strange text which throws the spam filters.

TARANAKI’S Chamber of Commerce has begun its events for the new year. BA5 start at 5.15 on February 14 at Allied Work Force in Hawera. RSVP by noon on February 12. The Chamber along with the Institute of Financial Advisors are doing a two-part seminar on KiwiSaver next month. With the government implementing the savings scheme in July, the race is on to get up to speed. The first session is for accountants, lawyers, HR advisers and other professionals on February 28 from 12.45 until 3pm. The second session is aimed at business owners and employers from 3.15 until 5.10pm. More details to come.

THE Bank of New Zealand announced the launch of NZ’s first foreign currency conversion facility that converts NZ dollar sale prices into overseas credit card holders’ home currency at point of sale. CurrencySelect EFTPOS works by converting Visa or MasterCard purchases into the home currency and letting the customer chooses whether to pay in that currency or in New Zealand dollars. Only some currencies will be available initially but this number will increase over time.

(c) 2007 Daily News; New Plymouth, New Zealand. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.