Shoppers were quick to lend support to St John last week, opening their wallets for the Flash a Light for St John Appeal to help fund the charity’s work in the community. NZ Safety showed its backing of St John by pounding the pavements and collecting donations that contributed to the estimated $25,000 raised by the business for the charity during June.

The contribution made by NZ Safety, in addition to last week’s street appeal, included a percentage of their sales across the country for the month of June. NZ Safety National Manager Tim Searle said he was delighted with the generous response, and wanted to thank his colleagues for getting behind such a great cause. “St John does very important work by providing various programmes and services nationwide, and NZ Safety was pleased to give its support.

“NZ Safety is a keen supporter of St John’s work – we raised almost $13,000 last year to buy a second-hand community service vehicle. This year we hope our donation will go even further to help St John continue providing its vital services.”

St John provides ambulance services to 85% of New Zealanders, and delivers an extensive range of other services and products in the health and health-related fields. St John relies on public donations to help fund the work it does in communities around the country.

NZ Safety will continue its support for St John this year by again including them as a beneficiary of their annual charity golf day in November.

ends

About NZ Safety
NZ Safety is New Zealand’s most trusted and experienced supplier of personal protective equipment, workwear and related safety products and services. The company operates through a network of 24 branches, complementing an extensive product range of the world’s major brands with industry specific education training and consulting services. NZ Safety is part of Wesfarmers Industrial and Safety New Zealand.

About Wesfarmers Industrial and Safety New Zealand
WIS NZ is New Zealand’s largest and leading industrial distribution company. The company operates through five independent business units: Blackwoods Paykels, NZ Safety, Protector Safety, Packaging House and Safety Source. Activities are centred in three key industrial market segments:
• Personal protective equipment, work apparel and related safety products,
• Industrial packaging, food service and hygiene products,
• Maintenance repair and operating consumables (MRO)

WIS NZ operates throughout New Zealand and undertakes some exports to Pacific Rim and some European countries. The company operates through a network of 75 branches and three manufacturing operations, and employs approximately 700 people. For the year ending June 2008, total sales revenue was NZ$251million and NPBT was NZ$6.8million.
For further information, please contact:
Dwayne Alexander
Alexander Communications
+64 (0)9 522 5541
+64 (0)21 324 463
dwayne@alexanderonlinepr.co.nz 

Tim Searle
NZ Safety National Manager
+64 9 2632906
+64 27 280 7041
tim.searle@nzsafety.co.nz

During the July school holidays kids were encouraged to abandon the couch, DVDs and Playstation in favour of getting active and shaking off stress – all in aid of a fabulous cause.

From Monday 6 July to Sunday 19 July, Botany Town Centre and LynnMall Shopping Mall in Auckland, and The Palms Shopping Centre in Christchurch, set up specially-built Fit2Fly adventure courses to encourage kids to keep moving during the holidays.

For every child that had a go on the Fit2Fly course, $1 was be donated to the Foundation for Youth Development’s (FYD) Project K – a proactive programme that involves three key stages: a three week Wilderness Adventure that provides challenges and grows self-confidence, away from students’ normal environment; a 10-day Community Challenge that helps transfer new found confidence into day-to-day life and build knowledge of community resources; and finally a year-long mentoring partnership that focuses on providing support and encouragement towards achieving goals.

Over the two weeks of the holidays, the shopping centres aim was to get more than 10,000 kids moving, and in the process raise as much as possible for the work of Project K.

Bruce Pilbrow, a Families Commissioner and CEO of Parenting Inc, says it’s important for kids to let off steam when they’re not at school. “Kids can get just as stressed as adults, and they need activity. Sitting in front of the TV or computer, especially if the weather is grim, means they’re not getting a much-needed energy vent, and it’s important for kids to keep active daily – the more the better,” he says.

The Fit2Fly course let kids loose on an activity course where they test their abilities running through tyres, sliding under cargo nets, balancing on low beams, navigating obstacles, walking the plank and shooting basketball hoops.

As an added incentive, each child that takes on the adventure course went into a draw to win an extreme adventure prize pack, with the winner and a friend taken on an extreme day out. The prize was be drawn randomly from the pool of entries, so the more turns they took on the adventure course the greater their chance of winning.

Kids could also win points for their schools, so schools with the highest percentage of entrants were awarded LynnMall, Botany and The Palms shopping vouchers. First prize was be $2,000, second prize $1,000, and third prize $500. The winning school  also got the chance to nominate a deserving student and a friend to fill two extra spots on the extreme adventure day out.

“We’re delighted to be helping to get kids stimulated during the holidays and offering prizes to encourage them to get involved,” says Botany Town Centre manager Jennifer Manning.  “We hope to raise even more money for Project K this year and would love to see 20,000 kids through the Fit2Fly courses, to help get behind this wonderful cause.”

The centres’ Fit2Fly activities in 2008 raised $10,000 around the country for Project K.
ends

For further information, please contact:
Petra Mihaljevich
Alexander Communications
+64 (0)7 522 5544
+64 (0)27 477 1573
petra@alexandercomms.co.nz

Jennifer Manning
Botany Town Centre
+64 (0)9 272 3888
jennifer.manning@ampcapital.com

Shelley Jenkin
LynnMall Shopping Centre
+ 64 (0)9 826 2336
Shelley.Jenkin@ampcapital.co.nz
Notes for editors

About Botany Town Centre
Situated approximately 19km southeast of Auckland, Botany Town Centre is one of New Zealand’s largest retail developments, with 169 specialty stores. Its retailers range from Dick Smith Electronics to Rebel Sports and a full complement of banks, fashion stores, and New Zealand’s most popular café and restaurant chains. The centre includes one of Auckland’s largest Farmers stores and a New World supermarket. The centre provides diverse entertainment choices from the Circle Lounge at Berkeley Cinema to the award-winning Cock and Bull pub.

About LynnMall Shopping Centre
LynnMall has more than 120 specialty stores. The centre is situated in New Lynn, West Auckland and is a short drive from Auckland’s CBD. LynnMall caters to all needs and interests, with major retailers including Foodtown, Farmers, JB HI-FI, Bond and Bond, Noel Leeming, Postie+, Stirling Sports, LynnMall Lollipops Educare and Whitcoulls.

Foundation for Youth Development (FYD)
FYD is a not-for-profit organisation founded by Graeme Dingle and Jo-anne Wilkinson and is a leader in the field of youth development in New Zealand.  Foundation for Youth Development provides young people with the opportunity to build self-confidence and learn valuable life skills by participating in unique development programmes from the time they start primary school through to the end of high school.  Through Foundation for Youth Development’s current programmes – Kiwi Can, Stars, Project K and youth offender programmes – they help over 18,000 young people each year to be confident, healthy individuals who contribute positively to society.

A new multimillion dollar facility was officially launched on July 10th 2009 to leverage operational synergies and meet anticipated growth for DHL, the worlds leading logistics company following 20% company growth in past two years for the company.

The building will enable further increases increase in productivity and processing-time improvements of at least 10%

The “green building” was launched officially in  Auckland on the 10 July 2009. and represents a fresh investment of US$8.8 million (NZ$14M) in New Zealand. The investment goes towards a new 11,600sqm (125,000 sq ft) state-of-the-art building in Westney Industry Park, adjacent to the Auckland International Airport.

The new DHL Global Forwarding office and warehouse facility will support anticipated business growth and offer enhanced logistics solutions to customers from all industry sectors. Auckland Mayor Hon John Banks, who spoke at the official media launch of the new building, and said, “Fourteen million dollars is a significant investment in the city’s infrastructure at a time when it is particularly needed. A major multinational company making a long-term investment in the areas of infrastructure, transport and logistics sends a positive signal to business as we work to strengthen the economy.”

“We have seen our business in New Zealand grow 20% over the past two years with the life science pharmaceutical, industrial and FMCG sectors as primarily sectors of growth. In this current economic climate, businesses are looking to improve logistics efficiencies and stay competitive. We see tremendous opportunity ahead and this investment reinforces our commitment to New Zealand,” said Amadou Diallo, CEO, DHL Global Forwarding South Asia Pacific.

“The new premises will provide for business growth and improved process capabilities will enhance productivity by over 10%. By combining our Auckland operational sites into one purpose-built facility, our ocean freight service is able to use the site for the unpacking of ocean freight containers, providing delivery improvements to customers of at least half a day,” said Tony Boll, CEO, DHL Global Forwarding South Pacific. A specific area of significant expansion over the past 18 months has been the Door to More service, an assembly service, piloted in New Zealand. The service consolidates multiple vendor shipments to a single shipment for the international movement and local customs clearance. This consolidated shipment is then broken down to individual deliveries to multiple customers (retail or domestic).

DHL Global Forwarding New Zealand, Managing Director, Brian Broom said,” Since the introduction of the Door to More service in New Zealand, we have seen significant take-up of this service to and from Australia, New Zealand’s largest trading partner. The success of this service has been evident in measurable growth in the pharmaceutical, industrial and FMCG sectors in particular.” The new DHL Global Forwarding facility and office will meet increasingly complex customer requirements.

The new facility has increased office space and greater warehousing capacity, specifically: • Office space of 2,864 sqm (30,850 sq ft) over two levels; o The design of office space and selection of equipment in consultation with a doctor of ergonomics; all staff members share the same open-plan space; • Warehousing space of 4,941 sqm (53,200 sq ft); o This space includes more bulk areas than in previous premises, supporting the company’s ‘virtual warehouse’ offering extended to customers through the Door to More product; • Building canopies for goods acceptance/dispatch of 3,391 sqm (36,500 sq ft); o The full weather-proof canopies ensure DHL Global Forwarding can protect the integrity of customers’ product as it is moved to and from warehousing; enhanced security features include electric fencing, CCTV, and a security house for entry/exit control; • Chiller/freezer/transit storage of 182 sqm (2000 sq ft); o This supports the life science segment of the DHL Global Forwarding business, by ensuring perishable products are stored at the required temperature – this new capacity has enabled the company to explore new opportunities in this market segment; • Transit depot of 91 sqm (1000 sq ft); o A stand alone warehouse to provide segregation or products when required, and short-term storage from the main facility. The new building is designed to maximize the efficiency of business operations and the work environment, with the architecture aligned with principles of the New Zealand Green Building Council’s ‘4 Star Green Star’ rating : the building includes advanced green features relating to indoor environmental quality measures, energy measures and emissions and pollution control. -

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Media Contact:

Alexander Communications Stephanie Jones Tel: +64 (0)9 522 5542 Email: stephanie@alexandercomms.co.nz

DHL Asia Pacific Anita Gupta Tel: +65 6216 6290 Fax: +65 6216 6603 Email: APCorporateCommunications@dhl.com

DHL – The Logistics company for the world DHL is the global market leader in the logistics industry and ‘the Logistics company for the world.’ DHL commits its expertise in international express, air and ocean freight, road and rail transportation, contract logistics and international mail services. A global network composed of more than 220 countries and territories and 310,000 employees worldwide offers customers superior service quality and local knowledge to satisfy their supply chain requirements. DHL accepts its social responsibility by supporting climate protection, disaster management and education. DHL is part of Deutsche Post DHL. The Group generated revenue of more than 54 billion Euros in 2008.

Paper Plus books spokesperson Kerre Woodham is visiting Queenstown on Friday 19 June to chat about her favourite reads. Irene (Spud) Godsall from Paper Plus Queenstown invites the community to attend the evening event and enjoy a glass of bubbly while talking with Kerre about favourite books.

Guests will also enjoy a special appearance by Suzanne Paul, famous in New Zealand for the phrase “But Wait There’s More!” which is also the title of her new autobiography. Suzanne says “I’ve been to hell and back and twice round the roundabout, and I know how to go from rags to riches. I also know that if you can dream it, you can live it.” In her book, Suzanne discusses her childhood, her difficult teenage years, her heartaches and triumphs, all with her unique humour and honesty, in the hope that it will inspire and encourage others facing their own battles.

In addition to being a bookworm Kerre is a writer, having published last year’s bestselling Short Fat Chick to Marathon Runner, a characteristically witty and candid account of how she worked her way to fitness and completed both the Auckland and New York Marathons – all after inauspiciously turning up to her very first training session with a hangover.

Irene says the evening will be a celebration of great reading and a chance for the guests to chat about their favourite books while relaxing with a glass of bubbly.

The event will be held at Queenstown’s Prime Restaurant from 6.00pm. Entry to the VIP night costs $20, and tickets can be purchased from the Paper Plus Queenstown and Cromwell stores. Along with sumptuous nibbles, and a glass of bubbles, there will be goody bags for each guest, and a fabulous hamper to be won courtesy of L’Oréal Paris.

Kerre is a well-known presence on the TV with Kerre’s Book Choices, the Paper Plus website and in stores, each month announcing and reviewing her preferred latest books in Kerre’s Choices, and sharing her thoughts in the Paper Plus Book Club online discussion forum. The Paper Plus Book Club gives readers the opportunity to review books they love, add comments to other reviews and receive special book offers.

ends
About Paper Plus
The Paper Plus Group began 26 years ago and is one of New Zealand’s largest stationery and booksellers. The Group incorporates three separate retail brands: Paper Plus, which has 104 stores; Take Note with 63 stores; and Office Spot with three stores, all offering a great range of stationery, books, magazines, cards and gifts to New Zealand consumers. There is a Paper Plus store in every town and city, from Kaitaia to Invercargill. It is the only New Zealand book and stationery retailer with Fly Buys.

For more information please contact:

Lyle Hastings
Marketing Manager
Paper Plus
 +64 (0)9 261 0702 
lyle.hastings@paperplus.co.nz
 Laura Burns
Alexander Communications
 +64 (0)9 522 5545 
 +64 (0)27 232 0009 
laura@alexandercomms.co.nz

Tighter budgets, a fragmenting mainstream media, a global recession and an increasing number of organisations clamouring for media attention. All these factors have combined to create a “perfect storm” to make effective media relations more difficult than perhaps ever before.

Conferenz’s 7th Annual Media Relations Conference will help you ensure you get the maximum exposure and value for money on your media spend. With an agenda tailored specifically to ensure you can strive for measurable, metrics-based return on investment and maximum media penetration, this will prove to be an exciting event not to be missed! You’ll hear insights from some of the top communications practitioners and thought leaders in the country, including:

 AIG Life | BNZ | Powershop | Ray White Real Estate | McDonalds NZ | Senate Communications Counsel | Counties Manukau DHB | Media Monitors | Alexander Communications | NBR | Scoop Media | and many more!

This Mother’s Day, there is an irreverent alternative to the usual card-flowers-chocolate triumvirate that is typically showered on the nation’s mums. The Paper Plus Group is holding the ‘Tarts for Tea’ event at SKYCITY on Sunday 10 May, featuring a panel of high-profile women who will join host Kerre Woodham in providing an unforgettable afternoon of entertainment for mothers and daughters.

The stellar line-up includes businesswoman Suzanne Paul, journalist and broadcaster Wendyl Nissen, fashion designer Denise L’Estrange-Corbet of the WORLD label, and media veteran Mary Lambie.

“People tend to give and receive the same gifts each Mother’s Day, and this year we wanted to offer something different and special – a unique experience to share and look back on,” said Paper Plus Group Marketing Manager Lyle Hastings. “This will be a great chance for mothers and daughters to spend some quality time together, and of course we welcome sons and dads too.”

The event will be held at SKYCITY for high tea from 1pm. Along with sumptuous cakes, sandwiches and other treats, there will be goody bags for each guest, and a fabulous hamper to be won courtesy of L’Oréal Paris.

More about the panelists:

Suzanne Paul – famous for the phrase, “But wait, there’s more!” (also the title of her autobiography – says, “I’ve been to hell and back and twice round the roundabout, and I know how to go from rags to riches. I also know that if you can dream it, you can live it.” In her book, Suzanne discusses her childhood, her difficult teenage years, her heartaches and triumphs, all with her unique humour and honesty, in the hope that it will inspire and encourage others facing their own battles.

For more than 25 years, Wendyl Nissen has been at the front of the media pack – first as an eager young journalist, then as the influential editor of a string of high-profile women’s magazines, a television producer and writer, and a popular radio commentator and columnist. Wendyl’s bestseller Bitch and Famous details her magazine career and the juggling act of motherhood and ambition. She is now working on a Domestic Goddess On A Budget guide for Penguin, due for release on 29th May 2009. She loves to talk to audiences about work/life balance for women who were told they can do everything, and are now exhausted.

Denise L’Estrange-Corbet has dealt with depression and family dysfunction in her rise to the top of New Zealand fashion design. In her book All That Glitters, Denise chronicles how she and partner Francis Hooper pooled their life savings of $400 to open the first WORLD store on Auckland’s High Street in 1989. WORLD is now an award-winning label famous for its innovation, irreverence and individualism. There are stores in Auckland, Wellington and Sydney, and WORLD has held shows in Paris, Hong Kong, London and Australia.

Mary Lambie has worked in the media for 18 years and is best known for her role as the former host of TV One’s Good Morning show. Mary’s first taste of working in media was as a trainee journalist for Hamilton’s 1ZH and her career has seen her take on many exciting positions from a three year stint in Japan as Radio New Zealand’s Tokyo correspondent, while teaching English, to host of BBC World Service Business Programme on her return to New Zealand. Mary is now also in small business (and has been for the past 20 months) and owns a Subway franchise, employing 15 people. Her book 101 Quick Tips for Surviving The Kids, co-written with Debbie Mayo-Smith, draws on the pairs experience providing a practical little book that is a goldmine of solutions for busy parents.

ends

About Paper Plus
The Paper Plus Group began 26 years ago and is one of New Zealand’s largest stationery and booksellers. The Group incorporates three separate retail brands: Paper Plus, which has 104 stores; Take Note with 63 stores; and Office Spot with three stores, all offering a great range of stationery, books, magazines, cards and gifts to New Zealand consumers. There is a Paper Plus store in every town and city, from Kaitaia to Invercargill. It is the only New Zealand book and stationery retailer with Fly Buys.
For more information please contact:

Lyle Hastings
Marketing Manager
Paper Plus
+64 (0)9 261 0702
lyle.hastings@paperplus.co.nz
 Laura Burns
Alexander Communications
+64 (0)9 522 5545
+64 (0)27 232 0009
laura@alexandercomms.co.nz

One of Australia’s top stockbrokers, Li Cunxin (pronounced “Lee Schwin Sing”) has been invited to speak to some of the most successful companies and influential business, presidential and national leaders of our times, and for a brief couple of hours will be in New Zealand to exclusively address the Brokers Independents Group (BIG) networking breakfast at the Ellerslie Convention Centre on Tuesday 12 May.

Li was born into bitter poverty in rural China, when a chance discovery by Madame Mao’s Beijing Dance Academy put 11 year old Li on course to become one of the best ballet dancers China has ever produced. He later went on to defect to the U.S., tour the world as a guest performer with some of the world’s best ballet companies, win medals at international competitions, marry and move to Australia until at the age of 34, Li started to plan his life after dancing and a radical shift in career. He began studying accounting and financial courses by correspondence at the Australian Securities Institute with a view to becoming a stockbroker.

For the final two years he was with the Australian Ballet, he rose at 5am to start ballet training, then raced to get to the stock exchange by 8am to work as a stockbroker until noon. By the time he joined the rest of the Australian Ballet dancers for rehearsals, he had already put in a full day’s work and has gone on to become a senior manager at one of the biggest stockbroking firms in Australia.

Upon learning his remarkable story, you begin to understand why it strikes such a chord with presidents and world leaders and small to medium business owners alike: it’s a story of change, vision and transformation, shattered and recreated dreams and passion, determination, love, hard work – and triumph despite all.

It’s one of those stories that warms the human heart and inspires us to stay true to our faith in the future in the belief that no matter what life may throw our way, we ourselves always have a say in our outcomes.

As soon as Li’s autobiography, Mao’s Last Dancer, was published it immediately hit the top of the Australia best sellers list. It was number 1 in the non-fiction category and won the Book of the Year Award in Australia, the Christopher Award in America and was short-listed for the National Biography Award among other prestigious literary awards.

Mao’s Last Dancer stayed on the Top 10 Bestseller List for over one and a half years and is now in its 45th printing, having been published and sold in over 20 countries with a feature film in the pipeline. He is now a highly sought-after speaker and will be in New Zealand briefly to address a largely business audience.

Ends
A film of the book is on its way…
Director Bruce Beresford of Driving Miss Daisy, Breaker Morant, Black Robe and The Contract fame has teamed up with Academy Award winning producer, Jane Scott and screenplay writer Jan Sardi (of Shine) to produce a feature film based on Li’s extraordinary life.
About Brokers’ Independents Group (BIG)
BIG is a newly founded industry group set up by independent brokers for independent brokers (and likeminded industries –like accountants and lawyers), with the aim of working together for the benefit of clients, mutual prosperity and the success of the insurance industry in New Zealand.

Its two key aims are to support independent brokers through the sharing of knowledge in training, case studies and industry updates and in terms of the general public, ensure the insured get paid at claims time.

BIG has a world-class recruitment and training programme of inspiration and information lined up for brokers and businesses including major events with International speakers, national road-shows, 2-day knowledge boosters and online video link seminars.

For further information:
Alexander Communications
Dwayne Alexander
+64 (0)9 522 5541
021 324 463
dwayne@alexanderonlinepr.co.nz
Brokers’ Independents Group (BIG)
Nicola Smee
+64 (0)9 443 8201
021 220 9773
nicola@biggroup.co.nz

One of the world’s top business gurus recently gave advice to Kiwi business owners as part of his visit in February 2009– and he says New Zealand’s unique situation and strengths indicates the light at the end of the tunnel will be visible sooner rather than later in this country.

Mr Peters was  brought to New Zealand as a guest of leading business coaching company Results.com, and  addressed a group of 350 top businesspeople at a full-day seminar held on 19 February.

He says that New Zealand’s journey out of recession and the creation of renewed wealth will be driven by medium-sized businesses in particular – those employing between around six and 19 people. Approximately 96% of New Zealand businesses employ fewer than 20 people.

“These businesses are focused on innovation and exporting their intellectual capital as well as goods, and they are using technology as an enabler. IP is one of New Zealand business’ great strengths, and companies that add value, rather than creating a cheap widget or running a call centre, are likely to do better, because other markets like India and Japan already have the inexpensive goods-and-service part of the market cornered.
“Companies that export intellectual capital into other markets can make an impact, and New Zealand is well-placed to capitalise on this trend.”

Mr Peters views New Zealand’s smallness and history of innovation as assets during a period in which capitalism will be reinvented.

“Unlike in my home country, which has many extremely large corporations – several of which have faltered and failed recently – New Zealand’s business strength is based on small and medium companies,” he says. “These are what drive this country’s economy, and the SMEs haven’t had the problems that many US corporations have experienced – things like inflated bonuses, absence of internal focus, lack of innovation and white-collar crime.”

He advises New Zealand business owners to use the recession as an opportunity to get back to basics. “Even if your client base has reduced by 20%, look at how you can get more share of their spending. Go back to what good business is founded on – knowing your customer and their needs, listening to them, having their trust and delivering on it. Management needs to be in touch with customers.”

Mr Peters says he is in agreement with economic experts who say that capitalism is not dead, but it is changing, and post-recession big business will not operate as it did before. In his view this creates more opportunities for small and medium business owners if they are smart about tools.

“To draw a parallel with the Obama campaign, which was unlike any other in history, he used technology to attract and engage his audience and convert their attention into votes. Businesses can learn a lot from that in thinking about how to reach would-be customers.

He says companies should consider coaching as a way to enhance what they are already doing successfully or help them out of tricky situations. “To find a great coach, you should look at their skills and experience, and at the amount of time they are able to dedicate to you. There is no substitute for in-depth, quality advice.”

Ben Ridler, the CEO of Results.com, says the initial help needed by many businesses new to working with his company is often relatively basic, such as ensuring there were no outstanding receivables. “Then we’ll get into the details, looking at marketing, strategy, staffing – whatever is needed to get the business to where it needs to be. These are the kinds of issues Tom will discuss. We have brought him over because the quality of his reputation and knowledge is unmatched, and because this seemed to us the best possible time to put him in front of Kiwi businesspeople.”
ends

About Results.com
Results.com is the global benchmark for business coaching and New Zealand’s leading professional service group of business coaches for larger-sized, privately-owned companies. Now also based in Canada, its nine NZ practices work with more than 200 New Zealand businesses weekly – helping business owners to:
• grow in size and increase profits
• turn their business into a more valuable, saleable asset
• develop their business in new directions
• maximize employee engagement
• enjoy more freedom and get ‘a life beyond work’
• get their business ‘ready for sale’
Results.com provides a comprehensive range of coaching and mentoring services, diagnostic business assessments, a full calendar of business education and professional development events.
Results.com was nominated as a finalist in the Education category of the Vero Excellence in Business Awards in both 2007 and 2008, against major New Zealand universities, for its innovative education work in business seminars.

For further information:

Results.com
Ben Ridler
+64 (0)21 361 611
ben@results.com
Alexander Communications
Dwayne Alexander
+64 (0)21 324463
dwayne@alexanderonlinepr.co.nz

Waikato-based businesspeople received crucial guidance on optimal current business practice from two senior corporate and commercial lawyers at a March 4 seminar in Hamilton.

Mark Lowndes and Mike Whale of the Auckland and Wellington law firm Lowndes Associates gave attendees, including chartered accountants, advisers and business owners, timely advice regarding recent changes to insolvency law, and directions for ‘bullet-proofing’ their own companies and those of clients during the recession.

Mr Lowndes is the managing partner and founder of the firm, while Mr Whale is a consultant to Lowndes Associates and co-editor, with Justice Paul Heath, of Heath & Whale on Insolvency, published in late 2008.

The pair examined positive steps available to businesses to improve their ability to weather the current financial turbulence. They took a fresh look, from a commercial law perspective, at the ways businesspeople can manage both risk and key business relationships.

The seminar also presented the various options for dealing with insolvency and restructuring issues for the business, its debtors and other stakeholders – with an emphasis on practical, cost-effective and early actions.

Mr Lowndes and Mr Whale addressed people at a time when the prospects for many businesses are grim: Insolvency and Trustee Service figures at late 2008 showed that personal insolvencies in New Zealand were up by one third on the same time a year earlier. The number of corporate liquidations and receiverships is also gaining momentum.

Mr Whale, one of the leading authorities in the area of corporate and personal insolvency, provided authoritative guidance on the new voluntary administration procedure. Adapted from Australia, voluntary administration as a new rescue regime provides an alternative, broader option for businesses which need to consider rescue or better outcomes than liquidation.

Mr Lowndes said the type of advice given at the seminar would be helpful to all involved in navigating their way through the current economic problems, from lawyers to accountants and general business owners. “In addition to addressing all the options available to business in a financial crisis, we presented a commercial law health check, looking at all aspects of this area of the law, from terms of trade, supplier and employment contracts to intellectual property, directors’ liability and business sale and purchase.”

The details:
Date:    Wednesday 4 March 2009
Time:    4– 6pm
Cost:    $60 (incl GST) includes refreshments
Venue:  Genesis Energy Lounge
              Stadium Waikato, Hamilton
ends
For further information, please contact:

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

About Lowndes Associates
Lowndes Associates is a leading corporate and commercial law firm with a network of trusted associates around the world. It exclusively represents the Multilaw and Legalink international networks in New Zealand.
The firm comprises carefully selected teams of industry-leading specialists. Together they reinforce the firm’s reputation as a law firm with a strong sense of commerce.  Lowndes Associates prides itself on its ability to integrate specialist input from different areas of the law into seamless advice focused on what matters – the commercial outcome. Many of the firm’s lawyers have second degrees in business and management, and have qualifications and major international firm experience, including in Asia, Europe, the United States, the UK and Australia.
In the 2007 to 2009 editions of the Asia Pacific Legal 500 Guide to Asia’s Commercial Law Firms directory, Lowndes Associates has received listings as a leading commercial law firm in the following categories:
• Corporate/M&A
• Dispute Resolution
• Intellectual Property
• Restructuring and Insolvency
• Technology Media & Telecommunications
In the most recent editions of the IFLR1000 guide to the world’s leading financial law firms and the Chambers directory of top lawyers, the firm is highly ranked in the insolvency and restructuring areas.

Lowndes Associates acts for a number of Waikato clients in the commercial, research and IP areas.

Leading Scandinavian health professionals visited New Zealand in February to discuss advances in healthcare connectivity between general practitioners and secondary-care providers. The speakers, from Denmark, were guests of HealthLink, the company which in partnership with the Ministry of Health has been responsible for taking the New Zealand health system to a world-leading position for the exchange of information between GPs and other services, such as hospitals, specialists and laboratories.

Denmark is recognised internationally as the world’s best in primary-care information technology. New Zealand is close behind, as the world leader in general practices with advanced information capacity (87%, compared with 72% in Australia, 32% in Germany, 19% in the United States and just 12% in Canada).

A research team from the two countries recently contributed to a research project led by Professor Denis Protti, Chair of Health Informatics at Victoria University in British Columbia, Canada. The first two parts of the study, which was co-written by HealthLink founder and CEO Tom Bowden, have been published in the British Computer Society’s journal Informatics in Primary Care (December 2008).

“Over the past 16 years HealthLink has worked with the Ministry of Health on the development and improvement of health IT, and a 2006 Commonwealth Fund report showed that New Zealand and Denmark are now the foremost countries in the world in this field,” Mr Bowden said.

“Working together by sharing ideas and new research helps us maintain our leadership for the benefit of all users of the health system, and other countries are drawing on our knowledge – we have established HealthLink’s systems in Australia and are now finalising a partnership to take them into Canada.”

MEDCOM is HealthLink’s equivalent in Denmark. Ib Johansen (MEDCOM Deputy Director) and Margit Rasmussen will speak at the February 12 event, which will be attended by more than 70 senior health professionals and the Danish Trade Commissioner.

The speakers have signalled upcoming developments to further protect patient safety and allow greater personal autonomy in health IT. Among the advances to be introduced in New Zealand are the ability to send electronic prescriptions and track them to ensure they are correctly dispensed; electronic patient referral to any hospital or specialist; and the ability for a GP to send electronic queries to other databases and computer systems to find out important information during a patient consultation.
 
For example, the advances will allow a person with diabetes, using home-based technology, to have every element crucial to the management of the disease, from the scales in their bathroom to their blood-sugar testing equipment, linked electronically to their patient file held by their GP, so information is automatically transferred, stored and acted upon when necessary. The patient will have electronic access to their own records within their GP’s systems, enabling them to be sent test results, ask for appointments and ask their doctor for advice.

“With the support of the Ministry of Health we expect to roll out these developments from now over the next five years,” Mr Bowden said.

ends

For more information:

Tom Bowden
CEO
HealthLink Ltd
+64 (0)9 638 3720
tom.bowden@healthlink.net Stephanie Jones
Alexander Communications
+64 (0)9 522 5542
+64 (0)27 577 1572
stephanie@alexandercomms.co.nz

About HealthLink Ltd
HealthLink is an electronic communications and integration service that is used by all organizations within the health sector to exchange electronic patient information via their computer systems. HealthLink is used by more than 8,000 medical practices across Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific region. The company has offices in Auckland, Brisbane and Perth. HealthLink has a growing presence in every Australian state and territory, and almost complete coverage of the New Zealand health sector.
Typical uses for HealthLink include:
• Delivery of pathology reports
• Hospital discharge summaries
• Patient referrals
• Specialist letters
• Messages between general practices and chronic care management systems
In New Zealand, and in parts of Australia, HealthLink has become the predominant means by which information is exchanged between healthcare providers, nearly completely eradicating paper correspondence. All HealthLink services are encrypted and digitally signed.

HealthLink provides its services to pathology and radiology service providers, hospitals, area health services, district health boards and state health authorities as well as general practices, specialist practices and ancillary healthcare providers. HealthLink may be accessed via the internet or via a secure virtual private network.