90 seconds at 9am: South Canterbury's big loss; Allied's ugly findings

Watch on our video page here Watch on YouTube here Bernard Hickey details the key news overnight in 90 seconds at 9am in association with BNZ, including news that South Canterbury Finance has announced losses of NZ$229 million on loan provisions and asset writedowns, forcing its owner Allan Hubbard to recapitalise the Timaru based finance company. See more detail here. Hubbard will inject Helicopters Ltd and Scales Corp into South Canterbury in exchange for new South Canterbury shares. South Canterbury now needs to retain its BB credit rating if it wants to remain alive beyond the end of the current government guarantee in October. South Canterbury owes more than 40,000 investors over NZ$1.5 bln. Meanwhile, Allied Farmers has reported a NZ$220 million writedown on its assets acquired from Hanover Finance just two months ago. It has uncovered problems with loans and delays with projects. It also found 'unusual things' in documents that it has referred to authorities for further investigation. See more detail here. Standard and Poor's has also given Allied Nationwide Finance a BB minus credit rating, which is less than required to retain its deposit guarantee. Allied hopes to win a one notch upgrade later in the year.