With six depots around the North Island, courses can run from one day to twelve weeks, depending on the size and level of machinery being used by the individual.  

Owner Kevin Wall talks with Breakfast reporter Nadine Chalmers-Ross about the business and the launch of AMS Group’s first South Island branch in Christchurch later this year – a timely inclusion with the upcoming rebuild work taking place.

Another growing area for the company is its ‘youdrive’ programme, an NZQA accredited course for secondary schools to help students gain the appropriate theory and practical skills needed before sitting their drivers license test.

For the full news clip, follow the link here.

The White Pearl by Kate Furnivall

In 1941 Malaya, a local woman is hit by a car while walking, and dies at the scene. The driver is Constance Hadley, the British wife of a plantation owner and mother of a seven-year-old boy.

The opening scene encapsulates, in a few neat pages, the virtues and flaws that make reading The White Pearl such a discombobulating experience. While Furnivall has put great energy into setting her scene and conveying the socioeconomic, cultural and political complexities of the time and place, when it comes to language and story, she seems to not know when to stop.

Seconds before dying, the woman curses Connie, who, troubled and guilty, seeks out her two children, Maya and her twin brother Razak. The latter will come to play an role in the disintegration of Connie’s already moribund marriage, but the promise Furnivall instills in the character of Maya – that she loathes Connie and is plotting against her – comes to naught. The bid for vengeance simply trails off.

There may be good reason for that, however: the Japanese are advancing, and the novel commences under the threat of invasion and eventually evolves into a boys’- own-adventure story in which Connie, Nigel and their son Teddy flee with some acquaintances on their boat The White Pearl toward the beckoning safety of Singapore.

Do they make it? What happens in the interim? These are the plot’s most important questions, but Furnivall exhausts most of the overweighted 430 pages before she even starts to address them.

First, we experience life on a rubber plantation through Connie’s eyes. The product, referred to as ‘white gold’, is tremendously lucrative, and Nigel is extremely proud of his familial possession.

His dual devotion to productivity and appearances is juxtaposed by a singular lack of interest in his wife (for reasons semaphored to the reader if not apparent to her), though he is enamoured of his son. Connie yearns for home, and much of the novel is given over to her musings on the inhospitable environment: “. . . no one had warned her that it was a country of sweltering nights and fierce smells . . . of the stink of bad drains . . . of ferocious insects that would devour you alive, and of jungle sounds that haunted your dreams.”

Overpopulated and hyperkinetic, The White Pearl is bogged down by a trilogy’s-worth of plot. Infidelity, murder, double-crosses, surprise confrontations . . . it’s all here.

Imagination and research are Furnivall’s strong suits, but I wish she’d directed more energy toward the development of character. With all the people roaming in and out of the pages, not one is truly, fleshily human, either sufficiently villainous to provoke the reader’s ire or noble enough to make you care about their fate. In particular, Connie has the makings of a memorable heroine, but through all her travails remains somehow opaque.

For all that, Furnivall’s gift for evoking mood is remarkable, and she provides a rare fictional portrayal of an often-overlooked place in history at a time of profound disintegration.

2 / 5 stars: An historical novel that reads like a maximum-velocity fun-park ride.

Click here to read more Easy Mix book reviews.

GFNZ Group Limited (previously known as Geneva Finance Limited) announces Investor’s principal repayment due 31st March 2012 will be paid out today.

Following on from the early repayment of the September 10 and March 11 and September 2011 scheduled debenture principal repayments, the Geneva Board and Management are pleased to announce that the Company is now in a position to repay the 31st March 2012 Debenture Holders principal of $2.5m and the scheduled BOS International (Australia) Ltd (BOSIAL) facility reduction of $2.5m.

This repayment is being made early as a result of positive cash position of the Group and the right under Resolution 1.4(b) of the Interest Bearing Repayment Plan to repay Moratorium Debenture holders and BOSIAL early, either in full or in part on a pro rata basis.

Inclusive of this payment, Geneva Finance has repaid $126.7m of investor principal and interest payments since the Company entered moratorium in November 2007 owing a net $132.4m to investors. These repayments are inclusive of interest payments to investors (including the company’s bankers) of $38.5m at an average interest rate of 10.7% and principal repayments to public debenture holders totaling $64.3m.

In February 2012, the NZ Pops Orchestra was launched at Morton Estate House. The orchestra is the first of its kind in New Zealand, and has garnered the support of musical entrepreneur  Gray Bartlett as Patron and Gina Sanders who is involved both behind the scenes and centre stage as a soloist. Will Martin will be headlining the first concert on March 18. Rising star Toni Gibson will also be performing at the March event.

Modelled on internationally renowned groups such as Andre Rieu’s Johann Strauss Orchestra (his Auckland concerts sell out), Boston Pops Orchestra and Queensland Pops Orchestra, the NZPO is this country’s first dedicated pops orchestra.

Results

As a new organisation, the NZ Pops Orchestra had its work cut out against other established musical groups. Gina Sanders was interviewed by Eva Radich for Radio New Zealand Concert and Will Martin was interviewed on the Coast network. Grown Ups, a popular website for the 50+ age group, ran a give-away promotion for double passes to the March 18 concert as well as a story about the NZ Pops Orchestra. Major television network TV 3  News also picked up the NZ Pops story ahead of the first inaugural concert. Toni Gibson was interviewed and quirky clips of her singing in the bathroom at home were included in the story The news clip can be seen here.  The story also appeared on the TV 3 News website and was uploaded to popular news website Scoop.

The Herald quotes that ” The lender has been one of the more successful financiers to survive the sector’s collapse, and has repaid $121 million of debt and interest to investors.” Also see the approved release on the share and debt placement with the new cornerstone investor.

The ordinary share placement at 2.75 cents per share will result in FedPac taking a 19.9% stake in Geneva. As part of the agreement with Fed Pac, Geneva has also undertaken, subsequent to the placement, to make an offer of a pro rata rights issue to all shareholders, including Fed Pac, at the placement price of 2.75 cents per share.

Over the past four years Geneva has worked hard to reposition and rebuild its operations. Significant milestones include:

• Repayment of more than $121m of debt funding to investors (including interest of 11.0% per annum to public debenture holders);
• Reduced operating costs by more than $25m per annum;
• Acquisition of the Quest Insurance and Stellar debt collection operations to complement core financing activities;
• Implementation of online internet-based scorecards and loan application systems for introducers;
• Restructure of its operations to allow the new business model to focus on a market segment that offers attractive yields that carry considerably less risk.

Geneva Managing Director David O’Connell says: “We see this transaction as a significant and positive development for the group. Fed Pac’s support will enable us to fast-track the new business model expansion while maintaining our scheduled debt repayment program. Geneva is operating in a market that has seen many competitors fall away, and we see the expansion of the  profitable new business model into this space as the key to  putting the group onto a long term and sustainable, profitable platform.”
ends
About Geneva
Geneva is a New Zealand-owned finance company that provides finance and financial services to the consumer credit and small to medium business markets. Geneva commenced business on 7 October 2002. Geneva’s loans are originated through three distribution channels (Direct, Broker and Dealer), processed by the central sales desk then administered through a national operations centre located at Mt Wellington, Auckland.
The company borrows money by the issue of debenture stock. It also has a banking facility with BOS International (Australia) Limited.Geneva (GFL) is listed on the NZAX. There are 179,759,631 issued shares held by 2,651 investors.

About Federal Pacific

FedPac’s operations throughout the Pacific region include investments in Banking, Personal and Business Finance, Money Transfer and Foreign Exchange Trading. The company was incorporated in 1993 and is based in Auckland, New Zealand.

For further information:

Alexander Communications
Kate Alexander
+64 (0)27 244 6094
kate@alexandercomms.co.nz

Recent research conducted by AMP Capital Shopping Centres (AMPCSC) found that three quarters of Kiwis prefer shopping in-store to online. Desiree Clark, senior marketing manager for AMPCSC saw the results as a chance for retailers to focus on the in-store experience and aim to provide exceptional service. Idealog online posted an article about the research and its implications for the retail sector in its March-April 2012 newsletter. The full article can be found here.

Space Studio is an award winning New Zealand design and procurement firm. Director, Vee Kesner, has over 20 years of both national and international experience. Their projects range from the Intercontinental Golf Resort and Spa Hotel in Fiji, to the new Whanau Ora Maori Health Centre inHenderson. Their work is based in New Zealand and overseas.

They have completed work overseas in high-profile hotels and in the refurbishment sector. Retail stores throughoutNew Zealandhave also benefited from Space Studio’s expertise, with both Bendon and 3 Wise Men outlets winning interior design awards.

Kesner originally approached Alexander Communications director, Dwayne Alexander, about the possibility of sharing some of the high quality projects with key interested markets . Dwayne worked with Vee to build a strong platform of media interviews by developing credentials and helping to get Space Studio’s story published.

Throughout the recession, Space Studio enjoyed substantial growth through localNew Zealandprojects and a strong presence in the overseas market. This was complemented by great media coverage in both industry and business publications, as well as in theNew ZealandHerald and on TV.

Results

The media coverage generated for Space Studio helped to achieve new business opportunities and enhanced the overall awareness of the high quality projects completed by the business.

Media coverage was across a number of channels and helped to raise awareness of the overseas projects Space Studio was involved in such as the Grand Papua Hotel and Windward Apartments in Papua New Guinea.

Space Studio has had widespread coverage in a number of publications. As well as print coverage, Vee Kesner was also interviewed on television by Corin Dann as part of the TVNZ NZI Business programme. The footage of this interview can be found here.

As evident from the comprehensive ‘In the Media’ page on the Space Studio website, the published coverage has been offset by high quality images of the work they have completed and of Vee herself. Through this exposure, quality business leads were generated and the profile of Space Studio was lifted.

Along with other valuable media coverage, Space Studio had front page coverage in the NZ Construction News as well as significant articles in Idealog and Interior magazines.