Pernod Ricard suffers $99m hit on asset sales (NZ)

French liquor company Pernod Ricard has taken a $99.1 million loss on the sale of assets by its New Zealand business while a dispute with the Inland Revenue Department sits in its accounts as a potential $87.4 million future loss. A $105.4 million loss in the year to June 30, 2011, reported by Millstream Equities, the holding company for its wholly owned local unit, does not include contingent liabilities of $87.4 million and $58.2 million for interest deductions on convertible notes or an alternative alleged avoidance of non-residential withholding tax it disputes with the IRD, reports the New Zealand Herald.