Tech IPO prospects, the risks of investor caution, Auckland’s landlords’ market and the big Aussie supermarket lockout

More stock exchange floats of technology companies are in the pipeline this year.

In today’s National Business Review print edition, business editor Duncan Bridgeman lays out his top listing candidates, including a travel software company, a point-of-sale software maker and New Zealand’s largest private software exporter.

Sticking to the tech theme, editor-in-chief Nevil Gibson, in Margin Call, details how high growth stocks, led by Xero and Wynyard Group, are driving the NZX50 – and how investor caution on such opportunities can mean missing out on easy pickings.

Technology editor Chris Keall lays out his top tech trends for 2014, including Kim Dotcom’s influence on the general election, a possible boom for Microsoft’s Windows operating system and what beleaguered Telecom spin-off Chorus is likely to do next.

Property editor Chris Hutching outlines how one firm’s latest research suggests the balance of negotiating power in Auckland’s office market will shift toward landlords near the end of the year.

Restrictions on New Zealand’s primary produce by Australian supermarkets Woolworths and Coles is not just costing this country money – it might breach Australian law and the CER treaty, reporter Jamie Ball reveals.

In other news, the Commerce Commission is understood to be shifting up a gear in its investigation of Fletcher Building’s plasterboard supply arrangements.

And reporter Stephanie Flores points out why next week’s Karaka yearling sales are the last chance for buyers to secure a piece of New Zealand horse racing history.

Shoeshine traverses the up and down journey for Tourism Holdings’ investors, and how fresh blood gives the company the chance to deliver on its earnings promises.

Guest columnist Roger Bowden steps up to the economic crystal ball to predict the living wage will become the new minimum wage, and ruminates on the effect of changes to China’s one-child policy and the mood of migrant-hit Brits.

Media reporter Victoria Young wrangles the demise of The Shopping Channel, how it was sold under the weight of millions of dollars of debt and the link between its creditors and the former owner.

In brief:

• In Asia Watch, Nathan Smith ponders an important milestone for China’s economic future – and how the country’s poorest stand to gain if its imaginitive new blueprint reaches fruition.
• Harbour Asset Management’s Christian Hawkesby raises an interesting, election-year tension between the government and the Reserve Bank, brought on by the country’s improving fiscal position.
• In Tray highlights some surprising inclusions in minister Chris Finlayson’s style guide, which sparked a front-page bombshell in Wellington.

All that and more in today’s National Business Review. Out now.