Welcome to Today in Business - Powered by Spark for Business, an experimental AI podcast by the New Zealand Herald. Each weekday, we bring you five stories, the best of the New Zealand Herald business journalism, summarised and delivered by an AI voice as an easily digestible recap. It's Monday, October 13, 2025, and here are five stories you should know about. Six Auckland property development companies have gone into liquidation, owing more than $20 million to creditors including Inland Revenue and several major corporates. Liquidators Steven Khov and Kieran Jones of Khov Jones were appointed on October 3 by directors Xu Xin and Wei Liu. KBS Construction, builder of Takapuna's 120-unit Amaia Apartments, owes $9.4 million to unsecured creditors and $129,000 to Inland Revenue. Related entities Henderson Green, Hobson Green, South Pacific Green Development, Pooks Green Development and Swanson Project also collapsed. Liquidators' reports list many trade creditors, and investigations into the companies' assets and legal proceedings are continuing under Khov Jones. In other news, Fletcher Building has issued a trading update reporting further declines in volumes and continued margin pressure through July to September. Chief executive Andrew Reding says market conditions remain subdued, especially in New Zealand, with light and heavy building product volumes falling. Winstone Aggregates volumes dropped 4.1 percent, and Laminex and Iplex in Australia were also weaker. Residential sales reached 88 homes, compared with 90 previously. Fletcher plans another $100 million in cost reductions. The company's annual shareholder meeting takes place on October 22 at Eden Park in Auckland. Also today, Precinct Properties has launched a $310 million equity raise through a fully underwritten $285 million placement and a $25 million share purchase plan. The proceeds will initially repay bank debt, providing flexibility for its $3.7 billion project pipeline, including a $201 million student accommodation development at 256 Queen Street, Auckland. The placement is priced at $1.23 per stapled share, a 7.5 percent discount to Friday's close. NZX trading in Precinct shares is halted during the raise. Following completion, pro forma gearing will fall to 33.2 percent from 41.6 percent as at June 30, 2025. Meanwhile, New Zealand's annual net migration gain fell to 10,600 in the year to August 2025, according to Stats NZ. The data shows record net losses of 47,900 New Zealand citizens as migrant departures reached 73,900. Migrant arrivals declined 16 percent to 138,600, while departures rose 13 percent to 127,900. Annual migrant arrivals had peaked at 234,800 in October 2023. Citizens from India, China, the Philippines and Sri Lanka contributed most to net migration gains. The figures mark another month of falling migration, with only 1,600 more arrivals than departures recorded in August, down from 2,000 in July. In a separate development, the High Court has ordered Du Val founders Charlotte and Kenyon Clarke to pay the Financial Markets Authority $46,000 in costs. Justice Jane Anderson granted the order after the FMA successfully obtained asset preservation measures against the couple and their property group. The assets were first frozen in August 2024 as part of an ongoing FMA investigation. Seventy Du Val entities were placed into statutory management weeks later. The Clarkes opposed costs, but the judge ruled their opposition was privately motivated. The FMA was awarded $40,300 in costs and $5,800 in disbursements. That was Today in Business - Powered by Spark for Business - your NZ Herald daily business summary. For the best in business, subscribe to Herald Premium at nzherald.co.nz.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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