/news/business/rss 九一星空无限 Keep up with the latest in business and financial sector news with 九一星空无限talk ZB. Sat, 23 Aug 2025 09:06:30 Z en /news/business/dairy-co-operative-fonterra-selling-anchor-mainland-k%C4%81piti-what-does-it-mean-for-consumers/ /news/business/dairy-co-operative-fonterra-selling-anchor-mainland-k%C4%81piti-what-does-it-mean-for-consumers/ Dairy co-op Fonterra has agreed to sell its global consumer and associated businesses, raising questions over what impact the sale will have on Kiwis at the checkout.  Staple New Zealand dairy brands Anchor, Mainland and Kāpiti are among those impacted by the $3.845 billion sale to French food group Lactalis.  Given that butter and cheese prices have soared recently, concerns have been raised. Butter prices have almost doubled in the past 14 months.  The average 500g block jumped from $4.49 in April last year to $8.60 last month. In January 2015, the same block cost $2.97.  Asked about the impact Fonterra’s divestment will have on prices for consumers, the dairy co-operative’s chief executive, Miles Hurrell, said there would be none.  “The competitive environment of New Zealand will remain unchanged. Business as usual on day one,” Hurrell said.  Fonterra chairman Peter McBride and chief executive Miles Hurrell. The dairy co-op is selling its consumer brands to a French company. Photo / Jason Dorday  New Zealand’s retail prices are affected by international markets because the country exports wholesale dairy products.  Brad Olsen, the chief executive of economic consultant Infometrics, said dairy prices for consumer goods had increased because international prices have risen.  “That’s going to be the exact same under the sort of proposed agreement with Fonterra and Lactalis,” he said.  “You’ll have Fonterra, which is getting the milk out of farmers, and then selling it through to Lactalis, and they’re effectively going to have to pay that going rate for dairy as well.  “I don’t think it will do very much by way of prices or anything else, certainly not in the short term.”  He said Lactalis could see different product innovations in the longer term.  “The question is, what will Lactalis want to do? It’ll be wanting to make sure that it’s looking across the wider product lines that it has.  “And for a lot of this, it’s also about thinking about what happens overseas a lot more in that consumer brand space.  “We’ve only got five million consumers. The other markets across the world, most places, have got far more consumers, sometimes in just one city, than we were able to provide in the entire country.  “There’s a global question around the sort of various product offerings that could come. That might be anything from nutraceuticals, healthier protein yoghurts, different flavoured cheese slices.”  Olsen said Fonterra’s consumer brands were already strong and viable businesses.  Fonterra’s brands include Anchor, Mainland, Kāpiti, Fresh‘n Fruity, Primo, along with Perfect Italiano, De Winkel and Mammoth.  “So from that point of view, when buying its consumer brands, you don’t have to do anything in the short term to get pretty reasonable returns, but they will want to lift them over time.”  Raphael Franks is an Auckland-based reporter who covers business, breaking news and local stories from Tāmaki Makaurau. He joined the Herald as a Te Rito cadet in 2022.  Fri, 22 Aug 2025 01:38:52 Z /news/business/fonterra-agrees-to-sell-consumer-arm-to-french-company-lactalis-for-38b/ /news/business/fonterra-agrees-to-sell-consumer-arm-to-french-company-lactalis-for-38b/ Dairy co-op Fonterra has agreed to sell its consumer and associated businesses to French food group Lactalis for $3.845 billion - well above market expectations. The sale, which has been over a year in the making, is subject to regulatory approvals. Fonterra confirmed the agreement in an announcement this morning posted to the NZX. A farmer shareholder vote will be held in late October or early November with a notice of meeting to be issued in October. The co-op said it is targeting a tax-free capital return of $2.00 per share from the sale. The sale would include a long-term agreement for Fonterra to sell milk and ingredients to Lactalis. Subject to the satisfaction of conditions, the sale is expected to complete in the first half of 2026. Fonterra’s FY25 earnings guidance of 65-75 cents per share remains unchanged. The consumer business was estimated by market analysts to be worth $2-$3b. Fonterra said it had also looked at an initial public offering and sharemarket listing for the business. Forsyth Barr senior analyst Matt Montgomerie said Fonterra had achieved a good price. “We view this as a very good outcome - our trade sale expectations were around $3b,” he said. “We view this as a very good outcome for what has been a perennial under performing business for many years,” Montgomerie said. As part of the sale agreement, Fonterra will continue to supply milk and other products to the divested businesses, meaning New Zealand farmers’ milk will still be found in iconic dairy brands including Anchor and Mainland. Fonterra chairman Peter McBride said over the past 15 months, the board had thoroughly tested the terms and value of both a trade sale and initial public offering (IPO) as divestment options. “Following a highly competitive sale process with multiple interested bidders, the Fonterra board is confident a sale to Lactalis is the highest value option for the co-op, including over the long term,” he said. Alongside a strong valuation for the businesses being divested, the sale allowed for a full divestment of the assets by Fonterra, and a faster return of capital to the co-op’s owners, when compared with an IPO. “This, coupled with the firm belief we have in Fonterra’s long-term strategy, gives the board the confidence to unanimously recommend this divestment to shareholders for approval.” Fonterra CEO Miles Hurrell said the sale was a great outcome for the co-op. “As the world’s largest dairy company, Lactalis has the scale required to take these brands and businesses to the next level. Fonterra farmers will continue to benefit from their success, with Lactalis to become one of our most significant Ingredients customers. “At the same time, a divestment of these businesses will allow Fonterra to deliver further value for farmer shareholders and New Zealand by focusing on our world leading Ingredients and Foodservice businesses, through which we sell innovative products to more than 100 countries around the world, from our home base here in New Zealand,” Hurrell said. Lactalis CEO Emmanuel Besnier said the sale would significantly strengthen the company’s strategy across Oceania, Southeast Asia and the Middle East. “Combining the Fonterra consumer business operations and market leading brands with our existing footprint in Australia and Asia will allow Lactalis to further grow its position in key markets,” Besnier said. The divestment comprises the sale of shares in Mainland Group Holdings Limited, a New Zealand incorporated holding company that is currently owned by Fonterra. Australia’s Bega Cheese - a key customer of Fonterra’s - had been interested in the Australian assets and had challenged the sale process in court. Fonterra said inclusion of the Bega licences held by Fonterra’s Australian business would be confirmed once a dispute with Bega was resolved. “If for some reason the Bega licences are not included in the sale, Fonterra expects to receive a fair value payment from Bega for the licences which would need to be determined at the time,” Fonterra said. Under the terms relating to the sale, Fonterra will continue to supply raw milk, dairy ingredients and products to the divested businesses under long-term supply agreements. Alongside shareholder approval, the divestment is conditional on final regulatory approvals being received from the Overseas Investment Office in New Zealand, the Foreign Investment Review Board in Australia, as well as relevant competition regulators and foreign direct investment regulators in certain countries including Kuwait, New Caledonia and Saudi Arabia. In July 2025, the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission announced it would not oppose the proposed acquisition by Lactalis in Australia. If conditions are met, the transaction is expected to complete in the first half of the 2026 calendar year, Fonterra said. On the stock exchange, Fonterra Shareholders’ Fund units were up 24c or 3.45% in early morning trading, from $6.96 to $7.20. Jamie Gray is an Auckland-based journalist, covering the financial markets and the primary sector. He joined the Herald in 2011. Thu, 21 Aug 2025 21:12:01 Z /news/business/hatch-attacked-online-investment-platform-targeted-in-cyberattack-safety-move-stops-log-in/ /news/business/hatch-attacked-online-investment-platform-targeted-in-cyberattack-safety-move-stops-log-in/ Online investment platform Hatch has been targeted in a cyberattack. The platform’s website says New Zealanders have invested $2.1 billion through it since 2018. There were more than 130,000 users as of 2022. Yesterday morning, Hatch identified a “credential stuffing attack”, managing director Waimarie Marks told the Herald. Website-building service Cloudflare said a credential stuffing attack was when “collections of stolen login credentials from one service are used to break into accounts on various other services”. Marks said existing security measures and extra preventive measures after the attack had protected the platform and users. “We can confirm that Hatch systems have not been compromised,” she said. “Hatch has security measures baked into the platform, which means we continuously monitor and take appropriate actions to ensure our customers remain safe. “The extra preventative measures we implemented may have impacted some customers being able to access their accounts online.” The attack was not exclusive to Hatch, she said. “It is a reminder of the importance of using unique, long, and strong passwords in combination with two-factor authentication on all of your important online accounts.” Htach investment platofrm was targeted in a cyberattack on Wednesday 20 August 2025. Photo / Supplied In 2024, New Zealanders suffered $1.6 billion in financial losses from online threats, according to research from the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC). The centre’s annual survey found 54% of adult New Zealanders had experienced an online threat in the last six months of the year, with 830,000 suffering some financial loss. The average amount lost per attack was $1260. “If these numbers are extrapolated across the adult population, it indicates that around $1.6b was lost last year,” said NCSC’s director of mission enablement, Mike Jagusch. He said the numbers are much higher than what is reported to the NCSC through its reporting channels. According to the survey, 44% of people who experience cyber attacks don’t report them. Under-reporting often occurs because victims can feel embarrassed, feel it’s not significant enough to report or aren’t aware of the channels they can report to. As a result, figures around losses can vary too. The second annual State of Scams in NZ report last year, compiled by Netsafe and the Global Anti-Scam Alliance, estimated New Zealanders lost $2.3b to online scams in the 12 months to August 30. Of those who lost money, 88% described the impact as moderate, significant or severe. Email (59%) was the most common way Kiwis encountered threats, but traditional means such as phone call (46%) and text message (35%) are still prevalent. Raphael Franks is an Auckland-based reporter who covers business, breaking news and local stories from Tāmaki Makaurau. He joined the Herald as a Te Rito cadet in 2022. Thu, 21 Aug 2025 02:42:55 Z /news/business/newstalk-zb-and-mike-hosking-reign-supreme-in-latest-gfk-commercial-radio-survey/ /news/business/newstalk-zb-and-mike-hosking-reign-supreme-in-latest-gfk-commercial-radio-survey/ 九一星空无限talk ZB continues its reign at the top of the country’s commercial radio rankings with the king of the breakfast airwaves Mike Hosking also retaining his crown. ZB has a larger share of the market than any other station and lifted its stake of listeners to 14.9% in the latest GfK radio survey. That’s up from 14.5% in May’s survey. ZB, according to GfK’s results released today, reaches a cumulative 620,000 listeners each week – the only station in the survey with an audience over 600,000. The Mike Hosking Breakfast show has grown its share to 21% of listeners, with 433,359 weekly listeners. Heather du Plessis-Allan. Photo / Michael Craig Heather du Plessis-Allan leads the drive show rankings with 13.9% of that market. ZM retained its top place across the 25-54 demographic and the station’s Fletch, Vaughan & Hayley have the most listeners of any music show at breakfast. ZM and 九一星空无限talk ZB are owned by Herald publisher 九一星空无限, whose chief executive Michael Boggs said: “We are pleased to see the strength of radio audiences from both the latest GfK survey and the Infinite Dial NZ 2025 research recently completed. That research shows 94% of Kiwis listen to audio on a weekly basis and highlights the strong, stable radio audiences. In addition there was 20% growth in podcast listening and continued adoption of listening on alternative devices.” In a statement, the Radio Broadcasters Association said, “Total commercial radio cumulative audience reached 3.4 million versus 3.425 million for the same survey period in 2024, with all key commercial demographic audiences reporting similar stability year on year”. “Resilience of our engaged listening audiences has been a consistent theme over the last few years, with our cumulative (all 10+) weekly audience consistently sitting around 3.4 million people. This stability shows that, as an advertiser, you can use radio knowing it provides consistent and reliable reach to audiences,” Radio Bureau chief executive Alistair Jamison said. Thu, 21 Aug 2025 01:59:12 Z /news/business/skycity-entertainment-group-annual-profit-drops-42-seeks-240m-selling-200m-assets/ /news/business/skycity-entertainment-group-annual-profit-drops-42-seeks-240m-selling-200m-assets/ Casino and hotel operator SkyCity Entertainment Group’s annual profit dropped 42% to $71.5 million and it today confirmed an expected equity raise of $240m.  CEO Jason Walbridge said: “Our financial results reflect the difficult operating environment we’ve navigated in FY25.  “The delayed economic recovery in New Zealand has led to lower discretionary spend impacting our business and that has come through the same time as a period of elevated investment”.  After Tuesday’s trading halt, Walbridge today announced the company going to the market to get money.  “In light of current trading conditions, historical calls on capital from a number of extraneous matters and the ongoing investment requirements of the business, SkyCity has today announced a $240m equity raising,” it said.  That is to provide balance sheet resilience to navigate this period of continued economic weakness; and execute on near-term priorities, it said.  Jason Walbridge started as SkyCity CEO in July, 2024. Photo / Jason Oxenham  SkyCity will issue 343m new shares and Macquarie has been appointed to the job along with Jarden and UBS.  Full-year results to June 30, 2025 showed revenue fell 5% to $825.2m.  Reported group net profit of $29.2m included a $27.3m impact from the South Australian casino duty settlement, and compared with a loss of $143.3m in the prior period.  Horizon by SkyCity is between TVNZ and the NZICC. Photo / Michael Craig  Underlying group net profit of $71.5m excluded the impact of the South Australian casino duty settlement and the B3 costs, compared with $123.3m in the prior period  Gaming revenue in Auckland was hit by the challenging market conditions and customer churn in the premium and VIP customer segments.  The reduction was partially offset by the contributions from the Horizon by SkyCity Hotel since last August, and the carpark income due to the buyback of the carpark concession.  SkyCity carparking is to be sold, in a second attempt. Photo / Janna Dixon  SkyCity will also sell $200m of assets in the next year to 18 months, with key assets identified for divestment.  That includes a second attempt to sell the Auckland carparks, as well as selling its own offices at 99 Albert St.  The giant property owner would then rent its HQs.  In 2023, SkyCity paid $204m compensation to finance giant Macquarie over a failed deal to offload its carparks in Auckland.  Television cameras caught a loan shark working out of a SkyCity carpark. File picture  That was a “mutually beneficial commercial resolution to the outstanding disputes with MPF Parking NZ in relation to a long-term concession agreement.  In April 2019, SkyCity struck a long-term concession agreement with the Macquarie business, getting $220m but the October 2019 fire damaged the carparks which then could not be delivered on time.  On Tuesday, the company declared a trading halt pending an announcement on a possible capital raise.  Footage shows drone flying close to Auckland's Sky Tower during New Years Eve fireworks display, 2024/25. Photo / Supplied  The dual-listed casino operator said on August 19 it expects to make a “material announcement” regarding a capital raise, together with its financial results.  The Australian newspaper said there had been talk in the investment community that the Auckland-based casino operator could make a cash call to fund managers this week.  The paper said the capital raise could potentially secure a sum in the ballpark of A$200m ($337m) to replenish its balance sheet.  In May, SkyCity said it expected June year earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation to fall to about 4% below the bottom of the guidance range of $225m to $245m.  Andy Bowley and Paul Laxton Koraua, Forsyth Barr analysts, noted in June that SkyCity’s “other regulatory challenges persist”.  Their analysis, headed Firing up legal proceedings, cited the Adelaide casino.  They were reacting to the company suing Fletcher Building for $330m, seeking damages for losses due to delays finishing the NZ International Convention Centre.  SkyCity Adelaide put profits before compliance historically but has since changed how it operates. Photo / Joe Nes  On August 13, the Herald reported how SkyCity Adelaide historically put profit ahead of compliance, according to an independent report’s findings out yesterday, although significant changes have since been made.  Retired Australian Supreme Court Judge Brian Martin, AO, KC, found past failures and ongoing issues at the business owned by the company.  But he also decided that it could continue to hold South Australia’s only casino licence.  Significant changes were made at SkyCity, which last year paid a A$67 million ($73.42m) fine for breaching anti-money laundering/countering financing terrorism laws in Adelaide.  Martin found examples of culture which he said prioritised revenue over regulatory compliance.  Anne Gibson has been the Herald‘s property editor for 25 years, written books and covered property extensively here and overseas.  Wed, 20 Aug 2025 21:56:13 Z /news/business/anz-westpac-kiwibank-drop-home-loan-lending-rates-after-reserve-bank-cash-rate-cut/ /news/business/anz-westpac-kiwibank-drop-home-loan-lending-rates-after-reserve-bank-cash-rate-cut/ Banks have started dropping their mortgage rates after the Reserve Bank cut the Official Cash Rate from 3.25% to 3%. Westpac cut both its fixed-term and floating mortgage lending rates after today’s announcement. It trimmed four basis points (bps) off its one-year, 18-month and three-year fixed-term special rates and 20bps off its two-year rate. Its one-year, 18-month and two-year special rates are now 4.75% – a new low for the mortgage rate market, while its three-year rate dropped 30bps to 5.09%. Westpac NZ’s managing director of product, sustainability and marketing, Sarah Hearn, said: “We know cost pressures continue to weigh on many households and businesses, and we’re acting swiftly to pass on lower rates for borrowers. “Our consistent offer of 4.75% per annum across the one-year, 18-month and two-year home loan terms will appeal to customers looking to split their loans across different terms, given the changing outlook for the OCR [Official Cash Rate].” Before the OCR cut, major banks had dropped their one-year mortgage rates to 4.79%. Westpac, ANZ and Kiwibank also dropped their flexible and floating lending rates, but only by 20bps. ANZ cut its floating mortgage rate and business flexible loan rate to 6.29%. It also cut 25bps off its standard rate serious saver account, dropping it to 0.40%, and shaved 10bps off its online savings account and Pie (portfolio investment entity) fund. “When reviewing interest rates, ANZ considers a range of factors, including the OCR, changes in wholesale interest rates and the need to balance the needs of borrowers and savers,” ANZ said. Meanwhile, Kiwibank dropped its variable home loan rates by 20 bps to 6.15% and its revolving loan to 6.30%. The bank also cut its 90-day notice saver rate by 25bps to 2.85% and its 32-day notice saver rate to 2.3%. Westpac’s 60-day term deposit was cut to 2.25%, down 15bps. Its 90-day rate is down to 3.40%, a drop of 5bps, and its four-month rate is 3.35%, down 10bps. The eight-month term rate is 3.80%, down 10bps. These will be effective on Friday. Hearn said it also knew savers were watching falling rates closely. “By not passing on any of today’s 0.25% rate cut on our Notice Saver product, we’re keeping the rate at 3.00% pa, which we believe offers great value for customers who don’t need on-call access to their savings. “While we know families and businesses are still feeling the effects of high living costs and economic uncertainty, we expect cost pressures to ease over the rest of the year.” Raphael Franks is an Auckland-based reporter who covers business, breaking news and local stories from Tāmaki Makaurau. He joined the Herald as a Te Rito cadet in 2022. Wed, 20 Aug 2025 08:54:02 Z /news/business/transpower-plans-193m-grid-upgrade-for-upper-south-island/ /news/business/transpower-plans-193m-grid-upgrade-for-upper-south-island/ Transpower plans to spend $193 million on upgrading the power grid in the upper South Island as electricity demand in the region continues to grow. The regulated national grid operator said it had submitted a proposal on the upgrade to the Commerce Commission. The option put forward by Transpower is to build two new switching stations near Ōrari and Rangitata, upgrade two transmission lines through the Waitaki Valley, and install voltage management equipment. Transpower grid development executive general manager Matt Webb said the proposed grid upgrades would strengthen the transmission network and ensure areas north of Twizel would continue to have a reliable electricity supply. “Demand in these areas has been growing steadily, particularly during the summer months when power is used for irrigation,” he said. “With more homes and businesses switching to electricity use, and forecast electrification of South Canterbury’s farming and primary processing sectors, demand for electricity is expected to increase even further,” he said. There is limited electricity generation north of Twizel, so power travels from the Waitaki Valley via high-voltage transmission lines to Christchurch and further north to reach the top of the South Island, Transpower said. Webb said electricity transmitted over long distances needs voltage support to keep the supply stable and avoid surges or other disruptions. “Our proposed upgrades will create connections between existing electricity circuits, increase transmission line capacity, and help keep voltage stable,” he said. Transpower is also considering what other solutions could support or defer this investment. Its proposal includes $7m for initiatives that could defer or avoid some investment in transmission infrastructure. “Non-transmission solutions” include large batteries and demand response deals, where industrial customers or electricity retailers work with their customers to shift demand away from peak demand periods. Transpower said the investment would ensure the upper South Island’s network had the strength and resilience it needed to meet increased demand into the 2030s. Jamie Gray is an Auckland-based journalist, covering the financial markets, the primary sector, and energy. He joined the Herald in 2011. Wed, 20 Aug 2025 03:56:35 Z /news/business/live-updates-reserve-bank-to-make-official-cash-rate-decision/ /news/business/live-updates-reserve-bank-to-make-official-cash-rate-decision/ (function(n){function c(t,i){n[e](h,function(n){var r,u;if(n&&(r=n[n.message?"message":"data"]+"",r&&r.substr&&r.substr(0,3)==="nc:")&&(u=r.split(":"),u[1]===i))switch(u[2]){case"h":t.style.height=u[3]+"px";return;case"scrolltotop":t.scrollIntoView();return}},!1)}for(var t,u,f,i,s,e=n.addEventListener?"addEventListener":"attachEvent",h=e==="attachEvent"?"onmessage":"message",o=n.document.querySelectorAll(".live-center-embed"),r=0;r',c(t.firstChild,i)))})(window); Wed, 20 Aug 2025 01:23:19 Z /news/business/kitchen-things-tipped-into-receivership-12-stores-closed/ /news/business/kitchen-things-tipped-into-receivership-12-stores-closed/ Nationwide premium kitchen and laundry appliance company Kitchen Things has gone into receivership after sustaining ongoing trading losses.  Kitchen Things has 12 stores in New Zealand, all of which have been temporarily closed.  Russell Moore, Stephen Keen and Adele Hicks of Grant Thornton New Zealand have been appointed receivers.  The receivers said the group has faced sustained pressure from weaker consumer demand and increased competition on pricing over the past two years.  Efforts to restructure and reduce costs have not been sufficient to offset declining sales and margins.  The directors determined the group could no longer continue trading and asked ASB – which holds General Security Deeds – to appoint receivers.  “We have temporarily closed all stores while we assess stock and establish next steps for the group,” Keen said in a statement.  “Our priority is to identify buyers for the business and/or assets of the group, ideally on a going concern basis.”  Keen said key staff have been retained to manage costs and re-open stores.  “We are calling for urgent expressions of interest from parties interested in acquiring all or part of the group.”  Kitchen Things in Morrow St, Newmarket has gone into receivership. 20 August 2025 New Zealand Herald photograph by Jason Dorday  The appointment affects related entities including Applico Limited (the group’s distribution arm), Baumatic Appliances Limited and Jones Family Investments Limited.  Kitchen Things was established in 1986 and sells leading international brands including Smeg, Asko, Miele, Bosch, Samsung and LG.  While 12 stores across the country will be closed, a  Hamilton Kitchen Things business is run by a separate franchise entity and is not subject to the receivership and administration.  Cameron Smith is an Auckland-based business reporter. He joined the Herald in 2015 and has covered business and sports. He reports on topics such as retail, small business, the workplace and macroeconomics.  Tue, 19 Aug 2025 23:24:33 Z /news/business/popular-palmerston-north-eatery-cafe-cuba-in-liquidation/ /news/business/popular-palmerston-north-eatery-cafe-cuba-in-liquidation/ Popular Palmerston North eatery Cafe Cuba has closed its doors for good after going into liquidation. A Facebook post said Cafe Cuba had closed from today “after many wonderful years of serving the amazing community in Palmerston North”. “It saddens us to share this news with you, over the years of hard work, laughter, countless memories and wonderful customers, we are so grateful for everything. “Though this chapter has come to and [sic] end, the memories and friendships will always stay with us, from our family to yours, thankyou for everything.” Cafe Cuba said outstanding reservations and vouchers would no longer be valid. The cafe is owned by Darlene and Paul Woodhead. Kieran Jones and Steven Khov of Khov Jones Ltd were appointed liquidators of Castro Limited today. Their first liquidator’s report is due on August 26. New Zealand’s hospitality sector is one of the most vulnerable industries in the current economic climate, according to Centrix. The hospitality sector overtook the property sector in June as the second-largest industry contributing to company liquidations. In the year to June, 288 hospitality companies were placed into liquidation, up from 199 compared with the previous year. “This is a clear sign that the industry continues to struggle with rising operating costs and shifting consumer spending patterns,” said Centrix managing director Keith McLaughlin. Last month, Auckland cafe Kind went into liquidation, citing spiralling costs and excessive rent. The cafe was a favourite of Dame Jacinda Ardern, who inspired the name. That same month, the New Zealand franchise of Butlers Chocolate Cafe closed its five stores, owing creditors and staff more than $1 million, according to liquidators. In June, popular Auckland cafe chain Little and Friday was tipped into liquidation by Inland Revenue over an alleged outstanding tax bill, documents show. Owner Kim Evans closed the last of her three cafes in May after more than a decade in business. A liquidator’s report said Little and Friday owes creditors $1.4m, including $639,389.19 to Inland Revenue. Tue, 19 Aug 2025 04:20:45 Z /news/business/michael-hill-international-appoints-jonathan-waecker-as-new-ceo/ /news/business/michael-hill-international-appoints-jonathan-waecker-as-new-ceo/ Jeweller Michael Hill International has appointed Jonathan Waecker as its next chief executive, more than five months after the passing of former boss Daniel Bracken. Waecker, who takes over the top job on August 27, has senior leadership experience across retail, brand, digital, customer experience and transformation, having held roles at The Walt Disney Company and Yahoo. He is also a former chief customer and sales officer at The Warehouse Group. Waecker said he was “honoured” to be joining Michael Hill and excited about the opportunity to help shape its next chapter. “With strong brand equity, a passionate team and a loyal customer base across Australia, New Zealand and Canada, I believe Michael Hill has all the ingredients to thrive. “I look forward to working with the board, the executive team, our people across the business and our loyal customers to unlock the next phase of growth and relevance across our brand portfolio.” Michael Hill’s search for a new CEO came after the sudden death of Bracken, 57, in February following an adverse reaction to medical treatment for an underlying medical condition. Interim CEO Andrew Lowe, whom Waecker replaces, has resigned from Michael Hill. Lowe will resume his role as chief financial and supply chain officer during his six-month notice period. Michael Hill chairman Rob Fyfe said Waecker was appointed following a rigorous global search process. “The board is delighted to appoint Jonathan to lead Michael Hill as we embark on our next chapter of transformation and growth. “Jonathan’s global perspective, commercial acumen, digital experience and customer-centric leadership approach align strongly with the company’s strategic priorities and market challenges. “We are confident in his ability to guide the Michael Hill business forward, building on our brand heritage and Sir Michael Hill’s fabulous legacy.” Founder Sir Michael Hill passed away in July aged 86. Hill opened his first store in Whangārei in 1979. The chain now has 291 stores in New Zealand, Australia and Canada. Michael Hill’s share price was down 1.12% to 44c in trading this afternoon. Mon, 18 Aug 2025 02:38:18 Z /news/business/what-you-can-and-can-t-claim-at-tax-time-the-prosperity-project/ /news/business/what-you-can-and-can-t-claim-at-tax-time-the-prosperity-project/ Tax can be a minefield when you’re self-employed, especially when it comes to deductible expenses but some push the envelope a little too far. The director at Future Focused Accountants, Catriona Knapp, told Nadine Higgins on The Prosperity Project podcast that a business owner once tried to claim a Rolex watch “so that he could get to meetings on time”. That did not fly with his accountant. “We did not claim the Rolex watch!” Knapp says while any cost that relates to earning business income is potentially claimable, she advises caution. “There’s obviously that propensity for a lot of people to want to claim as much as they possibly can. I always say, ‘Well, you’ve got to be careful of the picture that paints,’ because if the IRD ever come along .. and they think that you are taking the mickey, then they’re going to look harder.” The rules on deductibility can get confusing as some expenses can be either fully or partially deductible in different circumstances, for example entertainment costs. Knapp says, “The simple guide from a 50% versus 100% of view is … the 100% is where you cannot choose who enjoys that entertainment … as soon as you’re choosing, then it’s 50%.” Things can also get murky when costs are not solely for the business but have a private benefit as well, which is where Knapp advises to only “claim whatever portion that you can justify that relates to your taxable activity”. Home office expenses are also a claimable expense, but there are limits - Knapp suggests thinking of what you’d pay if you rented business premises. “So, if you’ve got to repair parts of the home, if you’ve got a repaint it, your rates, your insurance, you can claim a portion of that, but you can’t claim the pool guy, you can’t claim the landscaping ... you wouldn’t be charged that in a commercial environment.” And she says be careful with cars: “It’s a very hot topic with the IRD … that is not an area to push the boundaries.” Listen to the full episode of The Prosperity Project for more The podcast is hosted by Nadine Higgins, an experienced broadcaster and a financial adviser at Enable Me. You can follow the podcast at iHeartRadio, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. New episodes are released every Monday. Mon, 18 Aug 2025 02:19:17 Z /news/business/were-losing-money-on-butter-products-grocery-boss-responds-to-rising-dairy-prices/ /news/business/were-losing-money-on-butter-products-grocery-boss-responds-to-rising-dairy-prices/ The head of supermarket giant Foodstuffs says the co-op is losing money on some of its butter products amid rising costs. Foodstuffs North Island CEO Chris Quin told Herald NOW’s Ryan Bridge that everyone recognises how much the price of butter has gone up. “We are investing in some of our butter products to make sure they sit at a fair price on shelf as much as we can. “That means we lose money on some of them. “The most volume-moving ones, the private label ones, tend to be where we [lose money].” Foodstuffs recently published data showing retail prices across its stores rose 3.4% year on year in July, compared with Stats NZ’s latest annual food price inflation (FPI) figure of 5% over the same period. The supermarket said its “comparable FPI basket of products” was lower than Stats NZ’s FPI for the fifth consecutive month. “When you add it all up across our supermarket, we make 3.6c out of every dollar in profit after tax,” Quin said. Quizzed about Finance Minister Nicola Willis’ threat of “structural separation” of the supermarket duopoly, Quin said they would fight tooth and nail to protect its co-op business owners. “We firmly don’t believe [forced separation] will make sense from a New Zealand consumer point of view.” Quin said the “fundamental mission” was how to make food prices as affordable as possible. “We had a look at some information that was shared in the recent Annual Grocery Report, and whilst, yes, we sit slightly above the average OECD line [for prices], we sit as the lowest prices of countries that have less than 20 million people. “So, you’ve got to recognise that with a country [the] same size as Japan, and with only 5.4 million people, you have some challenges around scale and cost. “And when you know that 68c of every dollar is the cost of the product to us, then when you look at where could we make a difference to food prices, you’ve got to look at the cost of doing business in the whole of New Zealand. “Something like making organisations smaller with less scale and more overhead would not help the cost of doing business in New Zealand from a retail point of view.” The second Annual Grocery Report, released by the Commerce Commission earlier this month, found that while some progress has been made in the sector, many of the issues already identified continue to stifle significant improvement in competition. New Zealand shoppers paid 3% more than the OECD average for their groceries in 2023, the report said. The report also found barriers to entry for new competitors remain, while the major supermarket chains (run by Foodstuffs and Woolworths) continue to wield their power over smaller suppliers. Mon, 18 Aug 2025 00:44:40 Z /news/business/toxic-robertson-spills-beans-on-clash-with-orr-cost-of-living-crisis/ /news/business/toxic-robertson-spills-beans-on-clash-with-orr-cost-of-living-crisis/ When Grant Robertson was Finance Minister, he clashed with Reserve Bank Governor Adrian Orr on one memorable occasion, he has revealed in his new book. The clash occurred shortly after Labour had won a second term with a majority in the 2020 election, Robertson wrote in “Anything Could Happen” (Allen & Unwin). “It was the only time in my term as Finance Minister that I clashed with Adrian Orr as Governor,” Robertson said. The incident happened when Robertson wanted to make changes to the Reserve Bank’s Monetary Policy Committee remit - to take into account Government policy relating to sustainable moderation in house prices when working towards its objectives. “We had been joined at the hip on the Covid response, and I admired greatly the way he had helped navigate us through the crisis. But I believed we needed to put all the tools to work to burst the housing bubble,” Robertson wrote. The record shows Treasury supported the Reserve Bank in suggesting other ways that could be better achieved, but Robertson won the day, and a new remit took effect on March 1, 2021. Orr had been appointed in 2018 and was reappointed by Robertson for another five years, effective from March 2023, but resigned earlier this year after clashes with the Reserve Bank Board and Finance Minister Nicola Willis over funding for the bank. Labour’s handling of the Covid-19 response continues to be relitigated most days in Parliament. Only last week, National minister Chris Bishop referred to “Grant Robertson’s profligate reign of fiscal terror” and pointed to 36% of Covid response spending having taken place after June 2021. But in the book, Robertson quips that a new branch of economics sprang out of Covid: Hindsight Economics. “Looking back from 2025, it is easy to see ways we could have acted differently if only we had been able to predict the future. In the moment, we wanted to look after people and support them through the shock of their lifetimes. And, fundamentally, to keep them alive.” Over two years, the Government spent $58.4 billion in the Covid Response and Recovery Fund, including $19 billion in the wage subsidy scheme that kept a million people in their jobs. “New Zealand had been one of the very few countries to have a credit rating upgrade from the international ratings agencies during Covid.” But before long, the rising cost of living began to dominate every conversation. Interest rate hikes were eating up disposable income, and people stopped spending in shops, cafes and bars, hampering recovery by other sectors. “It was a toxic economic and political cocktail.” Herald cartoonist Rod Emmerson's take on Grant Robertson's competing demands in his sixth Budget. The Government responded with subsidies for public transport fares and moves to limit petrol price increases. In 2022, it also came up with a direct payment to low and middle-income earners, a payment administered by Inland Revenue, but the damage was done when some payments were made to people no longer living in New Zealand. Between then and the election-year Budget in 2023, Jacinda Ardern had stepped down as Prime Minister and Chris Hipkins had stepped up. The Cabinet and party were facing questions about tax policy for the Budget and for the campaign. Robertson said Hipkins seemed “genuinely open-minded” about weighing a wealth tax, which Revenue Minister David Parker had been working on, against a capital gains tax, which Ardern had ruled out while she was Prime Minister.” Robertson’s plan was to put proposals for a wealth tax in the 2023 Budget and legislate for them to take effect after the election. It would have seen couples pay a 1.5% levy on assets over $10 million, and raise an estimated $3.4 billion from 46,000 people. That would have funded a $20 a week tax cut for wage and salary earners. Hipkins initially thought the policy should be used as an election policy rather than putting it into the Budget. “I thought this was a mistake. My view of the election was that we were in trouble and we needed a circuit breaker.” Grant Robertson and Chris Hipkins at a post-cabinet press conference in 2023 shortly before losing office. Photo / Mark Mitchell But Robertson added that, in fairness, such an idea needed more time to be sold. “The public would have had to undertake a crash course in taxation policy that would have had a high chance of failure. There was no operational wealth tax anywhere in the world, and those who had tried it had encountered significant implementation issues.” After weeks of wrangling, Hipkins ruled out the wealth tax not only for the 2023 Budget but for the campaign as a whole. “I was gutted – but I also knew that I was the one who had stepped away from the leadership and Chippy was the one who stepped up, and I had to support his decision.” David Parker resigned as Revenue Minister as a result, and the party is currently undergoing a tax policy review. Robertson doesn’t offer a view, but a capital gains tax policy is expected to be confirmed later this year. Robertson concludes that while Labour could have run a better campaign and had a stronger tax policy, “it would not have made the difference”. “Along with the cost-of-living issues, we had endured a series of ministerial scandals and resignations. We began looking ragged and unfocused. At most elections, the public vote out a Government rather than vote another one in. This was the case in 2023.” Robertson recounted a flight he took during the campaign when he sat behind three women flying to Wellington for the World of Wearable Art event. At the end of the flight, one of them said they each ran a small business and how grateful they were that he and Ardern had looked after them through Covid, and they would not have made it without them. She had continued: “But we are not going to vote for you this time, sorry.” He also recounted door-knocking in Wellington Central for candidate Ibrahim Omer when one householder told him she was not voting for Labour because nine years in office was long enough for any Government – it had been only six. “We had been so deeply in people’s lives during Covid, it felt like we had been around forever. ”But ultimately this was a cost-of-living election, and we lost because people, however grateful they were, had moved on.” “Anything Could Happen,” by Grant Robertson is published by Allen & Unwin, RRP $39.99. Audrey Young is the NZ Herald’s senior political correspondent. She was Political Journalist of the Year at the Voyager Media Awards in 2023, 2020 and 2018. She was political editor from 2003 to 2021. Sun, 17 Aug 2025 20:57:21 Z /news/business/food-prices-lift-5-in-july-year-stats-nz-data-shows/ /news/business/food-prices-lift-5-in-july-year-stats-nz-data-shows/ Food prices increased by 5% in the 12 months to July 2025, after a 4.6% rise in the year to June, according to figures released today by Stats NZ.  Higher prices for the grocery food group, up 5.1%, contributed the most to the annual increase in food prices. On a monthly basis the category rose by 0.7%.  The change was driven by higher prices for milk, butter, and cheese.  “All five food groups recorded higher prices when compared to this time last year,” Stats NZ prices and deflators spokesperson Nicola Growden said.  The average price for a two-litre bottle of milk has risen 16% annually to $4.70, a 500g block of butter is up 42.2% annually, and a 1kg block of cheese has increased by 29.5% annually to $13.01.  The average prices for milk, butter, and cheese reflect the cheapest available option for each, according to Stats NZ.  “The price for 2 litres of milk has increased 33.9% since July 2020.  “In the 12 months to July 2025, milk prices contributed more to the increase in overall food prices than any other food item.”  Dairy prices have been in the spotlight for several months, with the latest Global Dairy Trade auction, which decides global prices, increasing 0.7% on August 6.  Prices for the meat, poultry, and fish group were up 7.9% annually (up 1.4% monthly). The category was the next largest contributor to the annual increase in food prices, and was driven by higher prices for beef steak and beef mince, up 24.6% and 19.3%, respectively.  Growden said that the average price for one kilogram of beef mince costs $21.97 in July 2025, about $3.50 more compared to last year.  As for the other food categories, fruit and vegetable prices are up 7.3% annually (up 4.3% monthly), restaurant meals and ready-to-eat food are up 2.2% annually (up 0.1% monthly), and non-alcoholic beverages are up 4.4% annually (down 0.6% monthly).  In the non-food categories, rent prices increased 2.4% in the 12 months to July 2025, following a 2.6% increase in the 12 months to June 2025.  Growden said prices are still increasing, but at the slowest rate since 2011.  Cigarettes and tobacco prices are up 4.8% annually, while alcoholic beverages are up 0.9% annually.  In transport, petrol prices are down 3.7% compared to this time last year, with diesel prices down 7.2% annually.  Domestic air transport costs are down 5% on an annual basis, however international air transport costs are up 7.1% annually.  Tom Raynel is a multimedia business journalist for the Herald, covering small business, retail and tourism.  Thu, 14 Aug 2025 23:44:27 Z /news/business/rate-cutting-merry-go-round-kiwibank-latest-lender-to-cut-mortgage-rates-ahead-of-ocr/ /news/business/rate-cutting-merry-go-round-kiwibank-latest-lender-to-cut-mortgage-rates-ahead-of-ocr/ The mortgage rate cutting merry-go-round is in full swing as a third major bank moves to lower its home loan rates.  Kiwibank said from today it was dropping some of its fixed home loan and term deposit rates ahead of an expected Official Cash Rate (OCR) cut next week.  The bank’s special one-year fixed mortgage rate will decrease 10 basis points (bps) to 4.79%, matching moves this week by ANZ and BNZ.  Kiwibank is cutting its special two-year fixed term rate by 6bps to 4.89%.  The largest drop is a 20bps cut to its six-month special (5.09%) and standard (5.99%) rates.  Special rates apply to those with a minimum 20% equity and are also available for first home loan customers.  Kiwibank is also cutting its standard one- and two-year fixed mortgage rates to 5.69% and 5.79% respectively.  Term deposit rates are being trimmed by between 10-15bps. Its new two-year rate dropped to 3.80%.  Kiwibank said there was no change to its six-month term deposit, which has a limited-time interest rate offer of 4.10%.  The Reserve Bank makes its next OCR decision on August 20.  Market expectations are for a 25bps cut from 3.25% to 3%.  Since August last year, the OCR has fallen 225bps.  The Kiwibank economics team said this week the OCR will need to go to 2.5%, eventually.  Yesterday, the Bank of New Zealand announced it was cutting most of its home lending rates.  Its one-year and 18-month fixed home loan rates were cut by 10bps to 4.79%, while its two-year fixed rate decreased 6bps to 4.89%.  BNZ chopped 20bps off its six-month fixed lending rate, taking it to 5.09%.  Its three-year fixed home loan rate moved from 5.09% to 4.99%.  On Monday, the country’s largest bank, ANZ, cut its six-month special to 5.14% and its two-year rate to 4.89%.  Thu, 14 Aug 2025 00:08:50 Z /news/business/spark-sells-75-of-its-data-centre-business-to-australia-s-pacific-equity-partners-for-up-to-584m/ /news/business/spark-sells-75-of-its-data-centre-business-to-australia-s-pacific-equity-partners-for-up-to-584m/ Spark has sold 75% of its data centre operations to Australian Pacific Equity Partners in a deal that values the business at $705 million.  The telco will get $486m cash, with a further $98m - for a total $584m - in FY2027 if performance targets are hit.  The proceeds will go to paying debt, the company said in an NZX filing. Spark had net debt of $2.74 billion as of December 31, 2024.  Shares were flat at $2.61 in midday trading.  The telco says the sale was at an operating earnings multiple of 38.8, FY2025, assuming ebitda of $22.9m for its data centre business. Spark will report its financials next week.  A separate company, currently with the holding name DC Co, will be spun out to run the data centre business. Spark will hold a 25% stake.  Spark plans to boost its data centre capacity from 23 megawatts today - a fraction of that offered by the likes of DCI, CDC and Microsoft locally - to 130MW, which would put it, or now DC Co, toe-to-toe with the tech giants.  In August 2024, Spark said it would explore options, including outside partners, to raise up to $1 billion for a five- to seven-year push to expand its data centre operations - a hot area with the rise of AI.  In February, the telco confirmed a process was under way.  The Sydney-based Pacific Equity Partners (PEP_ has more than A$14 billion ($15.4b) in funds under management. Its largely non-tech portfolio includes financial services and healthcare companies, Singapore Post’s Australian operation and fleet leasing. It has also owned and sold major New Zealand businesses, including the chicken company Tegel and biscuit maker Griffins.  PEP was also said to be interested in Fonterra’s consumer brands, although French firm Lactalis is now rumoured to be in exclusive negotiations.  An artist render of the 40 megawatt data centre Spark will build on the Dairy Flat Surf Park development. The 10MW first stage will take around 18 months to contruct. Render / Spark  At a half-year update in February, chairwoman Justine Smyth said Spark had a plan to expand to 130MW of data centre capacity - they are described by the peak power consumption - from its current 22MW from three centres, the largest of which is its recently expanded Takanini facility.  The expansion “will require $1b-plus of capex over the next five to seven years”, Smyth said. Spark was exploring equity funding options, “including capital partnerships”.  Expansion plans include the first stage of Spark’s planned 10MW data centre in a new surf park at Dairy Flat, north of Auckland. Surplus heat from the computer servers will heat a wave pool. Over time, it will be scaled up to a 40MW - easily the telco’s largest.  Spark won resource consent for its Dairy Flat build last year, but recently put in a revised application.  “This is a procedural resource consent application for a potential expansion of capacity at the site, should it be required in the future,” a spokeswoman told the Herald.  Scaling up to a total of 130MW capacity would put it on near level terms with half-Infratil-owned CDC’s hyperscale data centres in Hobsonville and Silverdale in Auckland’s north and northwest and Microsoft’s (completed), DCI (one completed, one under construction) and Amazon’s (under construction) facilities in the city’s northwest.  Recent Spark asset sales, including its passive mobile network infrastructure and a sell-down in the Southern Cross Cable network have gone to paying debt and returns to shareholders.  Chris Keall is an Auckland-based member of the Herald’s business team. He joined the Herald in 2018 and is the technology editor and a senior business writer.  Tue, 12 Aug 2025 00:48:08 Z /news/business/covid-wage-subsidy-cheat-luke-daniel-rivers-cooked-up-fake-employees-to-steal-nearly-1-million/ /news/business/covid-wage-subsidy-cheat-luke-daniel-rivers-cooked-up-fake-employees-to-steal-nearly-1-million/ A crooked accountant conjured up employees and used a change of name to run a racket including the country’s biggest known wage-subsidy scam. Luke Daniel Rivers later claimed financial stress and a culturally influenced need to project success had influenced his offending. All known wage-subsidy frauds paled in comparison with Rivers’ $1.6 million scheme, Auckland District Court heard today. But instead of spending the more than $900,000 he fraudulently acquired, he siphoned much of it off to Singapore bank accounts opened with a fake passport. Born Mai Qu, Rivers moved to New Zealand from China in 2001 as a teenager. He spent a term at a local grammar school but couldn’t afford the fees, so he went to work, then studied and became an accountant. He changed his name by statutory declaration in June 2004, believing an English-sounding name would enhance his career prospects. In July 2006, he got a new Inland Revenue Department (IRD) number under the name of Luke Rivers. However, he did not tell the tax department he still held another tax number under his birth name. Prosecutor Fiona Culliney said the offending Rivers was charged with started in 2011, when he evaded child support by filing multiple tax returns misrepresenting his income. But when the Covid-19 pandemic presented a new opportunity, the scale of his offending escalated. As the Government rolled out wage subsidies and small-business support schemes, Rivers cooked up an elaborate con. He pocketed about $906,000 and attempted to swindle a further $724,105.60. The fantasy world of his fraud scheme included the names of three Indian “employees” who had never been in New Zealand. He made 28 applications on behalf of eight companies he controlled, with a dozen of those applications fraudulent. Luke Daniel Rivers's fraudulent applications for wage subsidies named three "employees" who had never been to NZ. Photo / Dean Purcell In the small-business cashflow scheme he acquired about $29,000 and made failed applications for a further $41,600. The court heard Rivers was the sole director and shareholder of Your Payroll Limited, Your Refund Limited, Accounting 4 Me Limited and Save On Mortgage Limited. In multiple wage-subsidy applications he named himself as a full-time employee. Rivers was charged in June 2023 and initially denied the allegations. By October that year, it seemed a trial lasting four or five weeks would happen. But in April this year, Rivers admitted 29 charges. Culliney said Rivers’ offending was prolonged and involved the abuse of his position as a chartered accountant. “On that basis, [the chances of] a discount for character, if any’s available, must be very slim.” The court heard Rivers cited his Chinese culture and “expectations on him to be financially successful” as influencing the offending. “He’s well-educated and a successful businessman,” Culliney said. “This is a particularly sophisticated and deliberate scheme of fraud. It’s opportunistic in the sense that the country was in crisis, but it wasn’t a situation where it was easy enough to dip into client funds.” In November 2020, Rivers opened an Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation (OCBC) account in Singapore and sent $100,000 to it. In June 2021, he opened an account with Standard Chartered bank under a Chinese name. In total, $696,243.50 was sent to that account. In December 2020, he sent $250,000 to the OCBC account on the same day he received that money from the Government. Defence counsel Baden Meyer said Rivers was not a demonstrative man, but he was remorseful. The defendant had already repaid $1 million. “The payment of reparation …. is a practical demonstration of his remorse," Meyer said. Chartered accountant Luke Daniel Rivers used his skills to cheat the wage subsidy scheme. Photo / Dean Purcell The prosecution said seven years’ jail should be the starting point, and the defence said six years. Judge Kathryn Maxwell said the amount of money in the fraud was an aggravating factor. She said Rivers’ use of two IRD numbers allowed him to misrepresent his income for seven years. He forged documents to get three IRD numbers for the Indian people and also made false employment returns. Rivers used real people’s names and details to give the wage-subsidy applications a veneer of legitimacy. Rivers abused subsidies which were established to support businesses in need at a time of high stress, Judge Maxwell said. “It is, more broadly, fraud against taxpayers as a whole.” Rivers received a 10% discount for the reparations he made and a 5% discount for his guilty pleas. He was sentenced to five years and 11 months’ imprisonment. Judge Maxwell told him: “You did not take what you needed. There was a smorgasbord of dishonesty and considerable personal gain.” Thu, 07 Aug 2025 02:42:09 Z /news/business/labour-market-data-unemployment-hits-52-16-000-more-jobless-in-past-year/ /news/business/labour-market-data-unemployment-hits-52-16-000-more-jobless-in-past-year/ New Zealand’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was 5.2% in the June 2025 quarter, according to figures released by Stats NZ today. This is the highest unemployment rate since 2020. It compares with 5.1% in the March 2025 quarter and 4.7% in the June 2024 quarter. It was slightly better than the 5.3% expected by the consensus of economists but in line with Reserve Bank forecasts. There were 158,000 unemployed people (seasonally adjusted) in the June 2025 quarter, compared with 156,000 in the March 2025 quarter. Annually, unemployment rose by 16,000 people. But the numbers for New Zealand’s largest city look much worse. The unemployment rate in the Auckland region increased 1.5% annually, from 4.6% in the June 2024 quarter to 6.1% in the June 2025 quarter. Annually, the number of unemployed people in Auckland increased by 15,000. Auckland had 23,100 fewer people in employment year-on-year, but its total labour force also fell. “Labour market conditions have changed considerably in the last few years. Since the June 2022 quarter, the unemployment rate has risen by 1.9 percentage points,” labour market spokesman Jason Attewell said. “The underutilisation rate has risen by 3.5 percentage points over the same period.” The underutilisation rate was 12.8% in the June 2025 quarter, compared with 12.4% in the March 2025 quarter and 11.9% in the June 2024 quarter. Underutilisation is a broad measure of untapped labour market capacity that includes unemployed and underemployed people, along with the potential labour force. “A relatively sharp rise in the underutilisation rate suggests overall slack in the labour market has opened up a little more than the headline unemployment rate implies,” said ANZ senior economist Miles Workman. The employment rate was 66.8% in the June 2025 quarter, compared with 67.1% in the March 2025 quarter and 68.3% in the June 2024 quarter. “Wages continued to grow, although at a slower pace compared with June 2024,” Attewell said. Annual wage inflation was 2.4%, compared with 4.3% in the June 2024 quarter, and average ordinary time hourly earnings were $43.39, up 4.5% (compared with a 5% rise in the June 2024 quarter). ANZ market strategist David Croy said there was little market reaction, the New Zealand dollar remaining at around US59.02c in the minutes following the release. “It [the data] was on the soft side, relative to where the Reserve Bank saw things,” he said, adding the release confirmed that there was slack in the labour market. Earlier There was anecdotal evidence that firms holding on to labour were not experiencing the pick-up in demand they expected, which meant more jobs were at risk, ANZ senior economist Miles Workman said. “A degree of ‘labour hoarding’ appears to have suppressed unemployment in recent quarters,” he said. “If a recovery in economic momentum doesn’t do the heavy lifting when it comes to ‘right-sizing’ firms’ labour input, a further reduction in headcount may be needed.” With the high-frequency data pointing to an economic slowdown, risks around employment growth over the next few quarters were skewed to the downside, he said. ASB senior economist Mark Smith said he expected the Reserve Bank would likely take “more signal from trends in labour costs than the unemployment rate”. Liam Dann is business editor-at-large for the New Zealand Herald. He is a senior writer and columnist, and also presents and produces videos and podcasts. He joined the Herald in 2003. Tue, 05 Aug 2025 22:54:14 Z /news/business/112-million-in-extra-duties-nz-wine-industry-dealt-trump-tariff-blow/ /news/business/112-million-in-extra-duties-nz-wine-industry-dealt-trump-tariff-blow/ The New Zealand wine industry is facing hundreds of millions of dollars in extra tariffs, in a blow for the sector.  US President Donald Trump last week imposed 15% tariffs on exports from New Zealand, up from the previously advised 10%.  The US is New Zealand’s largest wine export market, worth about $750 million a year.  NZ Winegrowers advocacy general manager Sarah Wilson told Herald NOW’s Ryan Bridge the tariff announcement was “very concerning”.  “We believe it will have a significant impact on our wine growers,” Wilson said.  “Your typical bottle of New Zealand wine six months ago, that tariff was about 10 cents and now we’re looking at more like $1.10.  “That’s $112m in extra tariffs that’s got to come from somewhere.”  Wilson said it would be a decision for each business as to how those tariffs would be absorbed.  “What I can say is the bigger the tariff the more difficult it’s going to be to absorb those costs.”  She said New Zealand was at a disadvantage from a tariff perspective as some of its competitors in the wine sector, including Australia, Chile and Argentina, faced lesser tariffs of 10%.  “What we’ve seen with these [tariff] announcements is that a lot of those countries are at different tariff rates from us… it’s that differentiation that’s a real concern.  “We’re still well placed because we have a strong reputation for the wine that we produce in New Zealand. We’re known for producing distinctive wines, sustainable wines – that hasn’t changed, but certainly from a tariff perspective it puts us at a disadvantage.”  Wilson said it was difficult to say if the tariff hike would affect export volumes to the US.  “We’ll certainly be keeping a watch out for that, but certainly we hope that the existing reputation that we’ve got will put us in good stead.”  The US was the second-largest export destination for New Zealand goods last year, with a total value of $9 billion, according to Stats NZ.  Trade expert Stephen Jacobi told the Herald last week the tariff was unjustified at 10%.  “And it’s now even more unjustified,” he said.  “We impose very few tariffs on the United States.”  He said the impact of the tariffs on New Zealand exports would depend on the individual sector.  New Zealand International Business Forum (NZIBF) executive director Felicity Roxburgh said the US tariff move would cause real pain for New Zealand exporters.  “What people have been talking about a lot is the competitive disadvantage relative to other partners...”  She said importers typically pay tariffs through customs agents when they pick up goods.  “But basically, people have contracts and that tariff is sometimes shared, sometimes passed back to the exporter, and sometimes the importer will absorb it and pass it on to the consumer.”  Mon, 04 Aug 2025 23:11:27 Z /news/business/unemployment-tipped-to-hit-nine-year-high-as-labour-market-weakens/ /news/business/unemployment-tipped-to-hit-nine-year-high-as-labour-market-weakens/ The labour market most likely continued to deteriorate in the June quarter with unemployment hitting a nine-year high, economists say. After disappointing monthly numbers released last week showed marginal levels of job creation in the economy, expectations are that the official unemployment rate will rise to 5.3% when new data is released on Wednesday. Stats NZ’s Labour Market Data for the June quarter will give us updates on unemployment and employment levels, as well as levels of underemployment, underutilisation and wage growth. None of it is expected to be rosy. “The tentative recovery in labour demand seen last quarter has lost momentum,” said ANZ senior economist Miles Workman. There was anecdotal evidence that firms holding on to labour were not experiencing the pick-up in demand they expected, which meant more jobs were at risk, he said. “A degree of ‘labour hoarding’ appears to have suppressed unemployment in recent quarters,” he said. “If a recovery in economic momentum doesn’t do the heavy lifting when it comes to ‘right-sizing’ firms’ labour input, a further reduction in headcount may be needed.” With the high-frequency data pointing to an economic slowdown, risks around employment growth over the next few quarters were skewed to the downside, he said. Workman expects unemployment will rise to 5.3%, worse than the Reserve Bank’s forecast of 5.2%. He also forecasts the employment rate falling 0.1% (down 0.9% for the year). It is likely that the level of participation in the labour market – already low and flattering the unemployment rate – also fell. Westpac senior economist Michael Gordon was no more optimistic. “Monthly data has pointed to further job losses over the quarter, particularly among younger people,” he said. “We expect that many of these people will have exited the workforce altogether, dampening the extent of the rise in the unemployment rate.” The labour market typically lagged the broader economic cycle, so it was understandable we would still be seeing softness at this stage, he said. “But it’s possible that this lag will be more prolonged than usual.” ASB senior economist Mark Smith said he expected the Reserve Bank would likely take “more signal from trends in labour costs than the unemployment rate”. “Labour cost growth is expected to cool, with the balance of power firmly tilted towards employers,” he said. The Labour Cost Index should increase by 0.5% for the quarter, with annual labour cost growth cooling to 2.1%, he said. That would be the lowest in four years. More moderate April 2025 increases in the minimum wage would deliver a more modest than usual second-quarter increase. Annual public sector labour cost growth was expected to ease towards 3% given the Government’s fiscal belt-tightening, he said. “We expect wider measures to generally confirm that wage pressures are easing.” BNZ head of research Stephen Toplis noted none of this was “supportive of household spending, which remains critical to a broader economic recovery”. “Weak employment is a headwind on its own but comes with a kicker of raising concerns around job security,” he said. “Combined with above-average inflation in some essential items like food and electricity, it is another factor threatening the timing and extent of the pick-up in household spending that many are forecasting.” This Wednesday’s data would confirm the need for more rate cuts, Kiwibank economists wrote. “Last week’s inflation data was the first test for the RBNZ given its data-dependent approach,” they said. “We believe it opened the door to a rate cut in August.” Headline inflation rose, but the drivers appeared to be temporary. Domestic inflation was heading in the right direction. “Next week’s labour market is the second test for an August rate cut. And should the data print the way we expect, the door to a rate cut remains firmly open.” Downside risks to medium-term inflation were growing, given the soft labour market and dimming global outlook, they said. “We expect the RBNZ to cut the cash rate by 25 basis points at the August meeting. And they’ll need to go to 2.5% eventually.” Liam Dann is business editor-at-large for the New Zealand Herald. He is a senior writer and columnist, and also presents and produces videos and podcasts. He joined the Herald in 2003. Sun, 03 Aug 2025 22:08:34 Z /news/business/major-energy-firms-sign-deal-for-strategic-reserve-at-huntly/ /news/business/major-energy-firms-sign-deal-for-strategic-reserve-at-huntly/ Genesis Energy and the three other big power generators have signed agreements to establish a strategic energy reserve centred on Genesis’ Huntly Power Station. The deals – aimed at supporting national security of power supply – have been settled by Genesis, Meridian Energy, Mercury NZ and Contact Energy. The parties intend for the agreements to take effect from January 1, 2026. Subject to Commerce Commission review, these agreements will support critical back-up electricity generation and fuel being available to support the security of the electricity system and price stability. The deal follows on from last winter’s power price spike, which saw wholesale prices exceed $800 per megawatt hour, forcing the closure of some energy-intensive manufacturing plants. “The parties identified the need for a security of supply solution in response to the market conditions during winter 2024, when a combination of a faster-than-expected decline in the national supply of natural gas, low hydro lake levels and low wind conditions created a pinch point in the nation’s energy supply,” Genesis said. The medium-term outlook for gas supply was also a key factor. Huntly is the country’s largest power-generation site and plays a critical role in national energy security when hydro lakes are low and wind generation is reduced. The station includes three steam turbine-driven Rankine units, each with a capacity of 240 MW or combined 720 MW in total, able to run on gas and coal. Genesis is actively progressing its investigation of biomass as a fuel to gradually displace coal. Genesis chief executive Malcolm Johns said one of the Rankine units was due to be decommissioned in February 2026. “To keep this unit in service out to 2035 requires significant investment,” he said. “The agreements announced today are essential to making that investment and ensuring a fuel reserve is in place for energy security.” The agreements are for 10-year Huntly Firming Options (HFOs) covering 150 MW, 50 MW each for Contact, Mercury and Meridian. In addition, the agreements support Genesis’ establishment of a solid fuel reserve of up to 600,000 tonnes for dry winters with low hydro inflows. This will initially be made up of coal; however, the reserve may transition to biomass as it becomes available in coming years. The new 10-year HFOs support Rankine capacity remaining in the market, which will enable Genesis to offer future HFOs and other risk products to the wider market. Genesis said its intention is for the HFOs to be available to all market participants including independent retailers and generators, trading houses and industrial customers. In 2024, 85 MW of short-term HFOs were bought by several market participants. Johns said HFOs are a contract for generation capacity, not a contract for energy. “HFOs are designed to provide buyers with access to virtual generation 24 hours a day across the purchased time period. “This enables Huntly to support energy security while maintaining price competition.” The market saw the effect of HFOs during the first half of 2025 when hydro lakes were low. “Holders of the existing 85 MW of HFOs bought last year called on their virtual generation options, preserving water in the hydro lakes for winter 2025. “This helped ensure wholesale prices did not spike this winter in the way they did last year,” Johns said. Genesis said the parties will now engage with the Commerce Commission to undertake the appropriate review of the agreements. Jamie Gray is an Auckland-based journalist, covering the financial markets and the primary sector. He joined the Herald in 2011. Sun, 03 Aug 2025 21:48:07 Z /news/business/airline-growth-slowed-in-june-asia-pacific-still-did-better-than-most-air-india-crash-impacted-capacity/ /news/business/airline-growth-slowed-in-june-asia-pacific-still-did-better-than-most-air-india-crash-impacted-capacity/ Growth in global airline travel slowed in June and the Asia-Pacific region was knocked off a top spot for the first time in more than three years. The International Air Transport Association (Iata) said all regions except the Middle East showed passenger market growth in June. However, June was the first month since May 2022 when the Asia-Pacific did not have the highest growth in revenue passenger kilometres (RPK). RPK is worked out by calculating the number of fare-paying passengers by distance travelled. Latin America and the Caribbean, with RPK up 9.3% compared to June 2024, was the top-performing region. Worldwide, June featured the slowest growth for the whole first half of this calendar year. Year-on-year increases for Africa and Europe were the slowest for their respective regions in the year to date. The Israel-Iran war also dominated the Middle East that month and led to some countries closing their airspace. On Passenger Load Factor (PLF), the percentage of available seating capacity filled with passengers, all regions except the Asia-Pacific declined compared to June last year. In addition, Iata in its new air passenger market analysis said growth rates for all major international route areas serving the Asia-Pacific region eased in June. Traffic expansion between the Southwest Pacific and Asia slowed to 2.6%. The US domestic market, the world’s biggest market, grew by just 0.1% year-on-year but that was after four successive months of decline. Among the top three origin markets from Asia to North America, traffic from India declined 1.9% year-on-year. That, Iata said, was due to a reduction in capacity after the air crash at Ahmedabad. Ahmedabad’s Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport is India’s seventh-biggest and has about 13.4 million passengers annually, most of them domestic. Australian domestic RPK expanded 0.9% year-on-year in June, the second consecutive month of slowing traffic growth. Australia’s domestic traffic expansion in May was 1.0% and in April it was up 2.4% on a year earlier. Worldwide, domestic traffic was up 1.6% year-on-year, down from 2.1% in May. Auckland Airport in June had 751,000 international passenger movements, a 1% increase compared to the same month a year earlier. Domestic passenger movements increased 2% in the same month compared to June 2024. John Weekes is a business journalist mostly covering aviation and court. He has previously covered consumer affairs, crime, politics and court. Fri, 01 Aug 2025 03:52:34 Z /news/business/air-new-zealand-appoints-nikhil-ravishankar-as-next-ceo/ /news/business/air-new-zealand-appoints-nikhil-ravishankar-as-next-ceo/ Air New Zealand has appointed Nikhil Ravishankar as its next chief executive. Ravishankar, who is the airline’s chief digital officer, will take over from Greg Foran on October 20. Foran announced in March he would step down as Air New Zealand boss. Ravishankar has been with the airline for nearly five years. Prior to Air New Zealand, Ravishankar was chief digital officer at Vector and managing director of Accenture. “I’m both thrilled and humbled to be given this opportunity to lead Air New Zealand,” Ravishankar said. “This airline is an institution with a deep legacy but also a fantastic future. It’s a privilege to step into the CEO role and take on that responsibility for our people, our customers and our country. “Airlines are complex, and safety underpins every decision we make. I truly believe that New Zealand is one of the most innovative nations in the world and one of the greatest destinations to visit. “Our airline is among the very best and I get to work with some of the most dedicated people in the country, from our cabin crew, engineers and pilots to our ground teams, corporate and digital teams behind the scenes. “At the end of the day, we are a people business – purposeful, ambitious and deeply rooted in Aotearoa New Zealand, and I’m excited to help shape what this next stage of Air New Zealand looks like." Air New Zealand board chair Dame Therese Walsh said the board undertook an extensive international search before hiring Ravishankar. “[We] were delighted to see Nikhil come through the process so strongly. “His ambition for the airline’s future and his people leadership skills, coupled with his pursuit of excellence, digital literacy, global outlook and relationships, and his deep care for the airline and New Zealand shone through. “Airlines will continue to face immense challenges, whether that’s climate change, customer expectations, technology, cost pressures or geopolitics. Nikhil brings a fresh perspective that is grounded in New Zealand values and a deep knowledge of the airline and critical infrastructure across different sectors. He’s not afraid to challenge how things are done and ask questions.” More to come Tue, 29 Jul 2025 20:59:57 Z /news/business/bank-hopping-among-mortgage-holders-hits-record-high-as-loan-terms-remain-short/ /news/business/bank-hopping-among-mortgage-holders-hits-record-high-as-loan-terms-remain-short/ Those with mortgages are bank-hopping at record rates – but not necessarily to get lower interest rates.  Loan Market mortgage broker Bruce Patten said banks are attracting new customers by offering them cash contributions of around $5000.  People fixing their mortgages for shorter terms or opting for floating rates have also made it easier for them to switch banks than if they had different portions of their loans coming up for renewal several months, if not years, apart.  More than 3500 borrowers switched $2.5 billion of mortgage debt between loan providers in June.  While there has been a lot of bank switching over the past year, this was the highest monthly amount since Reserve Bank records began in 2017.  Cotality New Zealand chief property economist Kelvin Davidson said: “With nearly 14% of mortgages on floating rates and another 39% fixed and due to roll off by the end of 2025, a large number of borrowers are in a position to switch lenders without large break fees.  “This dynamic may continue to support elevated levels of refinancing activity in the near term.”  However, with interest rates likely close to their trough in this cycle, borrowers are expected to start locking in loans at longer durations.  Patten said while cash contributions were acting as a pull factor, encouraging people to change banks, there were also notable push factors at play.  His observation was that people were increasingly unhappy with the service they received from their bank and were changing in the hope of seeing an improvement.  “People are disgruntled and financially stressed,” Patten said.  He said clients struggled to get hold of customer service staff, with banks closing branches, cutting staff and outsourcing work to countries such as India, where wages are lower than in New Zealand.  He believed the uptick in outsourcing had resulted in banks making more mistakes in loan documents.  Patten pointed to an example where a bank took its time to collate a document for a client buying a house. The client’s lawyer then discovered an error in the document and sent it back to the bank. The to-ing and fro-ing delayed settlement and ultimately cost the buyer.  Patten put the mistakes he saw down to human error, resulting from banks’ cost-cutting and failing to keep up with technological developments.  The disheartening thing, in his view, was that after people changed banks they often realised the grass wasn’t necessarily greener on the other side.  The issue is topical, as banks are pushing the Government to forge ahead with its plan to prevent them from being hit with disproportionately large penalties for making mistakes in loan documents.  A bill is currently going through Parliament to ensure the law pre-2019 aligns with that post-2019, when the courts were given discretion to impose fair penalties on lenders that don’t meet their disclosure requirements.  For breaches that occurred between 2015 and 2019, banks can be required to reimburse customers all their borrowing costs for the duration of the breach, regardless of its severity.  The Government wants to change this, worrying that the law could give rise to customers trying to get windfall gains from banks for making minor breaches.  Indeed, there is a significant class action against ANZ and ASB before the courts related to breaches from the mid-2010s.  The lawyers representing the bank customers argue lenders need to face very large penalties for breaching their disclosure obligations.  If they don’t, they won’t invest in the systems required to ensure they meet high standards.  The lawyers argue that if lenders are only required to reimburse customers for harm caused, they might simply accept the fact they will make mistakes and consider this a cost of doing business.  However, the Government makes the point that disproportionately tough penalties will drive risk aversion by banks.  Jenée Tibshraeny is the Herald’s Wellington business editor, based in the parliamentary press gallery. She specialises in government and Reserve Bank policymaking, economics and banking.  Tue, 29 Jul 2025 19:09:12 Z /news/business/government-to-ban-card-payment-surcharges-businesses-to-pick-up-the-tab/ /news/business/government-to-ban-card-payment-surcharges-businesses-to-pick-up-the-tab/ The Government is planning to ban merchants from adding surcharges to most in-store card payments. The change will save shoppers, but cost merchants, who will need to absorb the cost of offering contactless payments or pass it onto customers by hiking prices. The change is expected to be made by May next year. It will apply to payments made in-store using Eftpos, Visa and Mastercard but won’t apply to purchases made online or with foreign-issued cards, prepaid gift or travel cards, and cards issued by networks like American Express or UnionPay. Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Scott Simpson said: “Surcharges are a hassle and an unwelcome surprise when shoppers get to the till. “That pesky note or sticker on the payment machine will become a thing of the past. “We’re banning surcharges so consumers can shop with confidence knowing how much they will pay for their purchases. “New Zealanders are paying up to $150 million in surcharges every year, including excessive surcharges of up to $65m. That’s money that could be saved or spent elsewhere.” Simpson recognised the surcharges applied by merchants could be excessive and opaque. “In some cases, the retailer doesn’t even make it clear what the percentage is,” he said. He noted the surcharge ban would come in addition to the Commerce Commission reducing the interchange fees paid by businesses to accept Visa and Mastercard payments. These make up about 60% of the service fees merchants pay. The recently announced change is expected to save businesses about $90m a year. Simpson also expected the Commerce Commission to require banks to improve the way they provide payment cost information to businesses to help them negotiate better deals. Legislative change will be required to enforce the surcharge ban. The Retail Payment System (Ban on Surcharges) Amendment Bill is expected to be introduced by the end of this year. In the United Kingdom and across the European Union, surcharges for debit and credit cards for designated schemes are banned. Australia currently has surcharging on debit and credit cards, but this must be no more than the cost to retailers of accepting these cards. The Reserve Bank of Australia has recently proposed banning surcharges altogether for Eftpos, and for Visa and Mastercard debit and credit cards. The Commerce Commission will oversee enforcement. If a business applies a surcharge that is no longer allowed, the consumer will be entitled to a refund. The commission can also take legal action to ensure compliance. Jenée Tibshraeny is the Herald’s Wellington business editor, based in the parliamentary press gallery. She specialises in government and Reserve Bank policymaking, economics and banking. Mon, 28 Jul 2025 02:18:53 Z /news/business/air-new-zealand-international-lounge-at-auckland-airport-to-be-overhauled/ /news/business/air-new-zealand-international-lounge-at-auckland-airport-to-be-overhauled/ Air New Zealand says it will nearly double the size of its Auckland Airport international lounge. The airline’s plans follow moves from rival Qantas to add 100 extra seats to its own Auckland lounge. Air New Zealand chief executive Greg Foran said the project would likely be finished by late 2027. “We get over half a million people [annually] through these lounges,” he told the Herald. “It’s a big deal when you’re travelling internationally.” Foran today said the lounge would expand from 2000sq m to 3700sq m and incorporate two parts. One would be for Airpoints Elite and Business Premier customers, and the other for Airpoints Gold, Star Alliance Gold, Airpoints Silver and Koru members. “We’re investing for future growth,” Foran said. He said the current lounge could accommodate about 430 people and the new one would be able to host about 790 people. “It will set us up really well for the next five, 10 years.” A render of the new space at Air New Zealand's international lounge at Auckland. Photo / Supplied Foran said he could not disclose the exact cost of the overhaul. “But it is millions and millions of dollars.” The airline said the current lounge would stay open with reduced capacity while work was completed on the new Airpoints Elite and Business Premier lounge. “Once the new lounge is open, the current lounge will be redeveloped and is expected to open by late 2027,” the airline added. It said customers would be advised of any changes to accommodation in different lounge spaces through the airline’s app. Air New Zealand said the lounge would also have a dedicated family area, and a barista bar closer to the entrance. The airline said the new lounge for Elite and Business Premier customers would have more food and beverage choices, and views across the tarmac and runway. The construction start date is not yet confirmed. Qantas started work in May on its new international lounge at Auckland. The Australian airline promised additional shower suites and dedicated space to work with USB and charging stations for long-haul travellers at its Auckland site. Qantas said its new lounge was expected to open early next year, and was designed in collaboration with Sydney-based Caon Design Office and Akin Atelier, as well as the New Zealand studio of Architectus. John Weekes is a business journalist covering aviation and court. He has previously covered consumer affairs, crime, politics and court. Sun, 27 Jul 2025 21:32:50 Z /news/business/as-kiwis-battle-rising-electricity-bills-campaigners-call-for-change-power-to-the-people-part-1/ /news/business/as-kiwis-battle-rising-electricity-bills-campaigners-call-for-change-power-to-the-people-part-1/ More than 100,000 New Zealanders can’t keep warm in their homes over winter as they struggle to afford heating and pay their power bills. In the first of a four-part series on energy hardship, Raphael Franks examines the scale of the problem and asks electricity companies what they are doing about it. Liz has had almost as much as she can take. “Me and my almost 9-year-old are suffering,” she told the Herald. “We are suffering through this cold, and I just refuse to go back into more arrears with electricity. It really sucks, but what else can you do?” Liz (who asked for her surname not to be used) is a solo mum living in Māngere East, Auckland. She used to face monthly power bills of $80 with Contact Energy, but when they started blowing out past $120, “it was just like power bill after power bill”. Liz got into arrears with Contact. Then, Contact cut her power and charged her a reconnection fee. Contact stopped charging disconnection for non-payment last August. But Liz had to borrow $700 from Work and Income to cover her arrears and reconnection. "Me and my almost 9-year-old are suffering," says Liz, a single mum of Māngere East. Photo / Carson Bluck In search of a better deal with another provider, Liz then switched to Mercury. “And this is where I messed up.” She signed herself into a contract she did not realise locked her in for two years. The bills didn’t get any cheaper, and she was stuck unless she paid a contract break fee. “And then they also put on the late fees. I’ve gone into arrears with Mercury at least three times. I’m still currently in arrears with Mercury, and I have redirection [from benefit payments] set up of $95 a week, which is a lot. “I’m currently sitting at $300 in arrears, still, with Mercury. Because $95 a week, it’s bringing it down, but it’s not clearing it. It brings it down, and then the next bill rolls in.” And on her sole parent benefit, with money being redirected and still drowning in new bills, Liz found herself struggling to pay for other necessities such as food. “So this is how I’ve been trying to manage over the years, which, honestly, has put me in so much debt and financial stress: I started using [buy now, pay later services] Zip and Afterpay. I would pay all my bills that I needed to pay, and then I would Zip or Afterpay an Uber Eats gift card to spend on groceries. “Now keep in mind, I’m using this weekly because I need to make ends meet, right? Single mum Liz has struggled to pay her power bills on multiple occasions, to the point of choosing between food and power. Photo / Carson Bluck “So, that’s a little bit of what my life looks like. We’re currently freezing in our house. And when I say we’re freezing, you know that cold where you wake up and you’re breathing, but you can see you’re breathing in cold air and your hair is cold? That’s what it’s like sleeping inside our house.” Kim Dewhurst knows that feeling. “I just stay in bed if it’s too cold,” says the 69-year-old Upper Hutt pensioner. “I wear jerseys, I wear socks, I wear long johns, I wear thermals – anything just to try and cut down on power.” Dewhurst is a wheelchair user and full-time carer for her adult son, who has Autism Spectrum Disorder. She is with Nova Energy. “My last power bill was quite high. It was a lot higher than I could budget for. It took my breath away, to be honest. My most recent power was $362. “I hate it. I hate feeling obligated to beg for money, but I don’t have a choice. I have to go to my kids. I am just sick of constantly being cold. Everybody said get a heat pump, so I did under the subsidy, and it just absolutely chews up the power.” Energy hardship – what is it? Liz and Kim are two of the more than 100,000 New Zealanders battling energy hardship, defined by the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) as ”when individuals, households and whānau are not able to obtain and afford adequate energy services to support their wellbeing in their home or kāinga”. MBIE is due to release its second energy hardship report later this year. Its last report in 2022 showed up to 6% of households were in energy hardship and 110,000 households could not keep warm. Consumer NZ does its own yearly and quarterly surveys probing energy poverty, and its last annual survey “revealed some sobering insights”, the watchdog’s Powerswitch manager Paul Fuge told the Herald. The 2025 annual energy survey found 20% of people have had difficulty paying their power bill in the past year. That was up from 18% last year. More than one out of 10 people say their home is not as warm as they would like because of the cost of energy and cutting back on heating. A majority, 56%, said they were concerned about the cost of their household’s energy, a two-point increase from last year; 36% said the electricity market was working poorly for consumers like them; and 15% of people had overdue fees added to their bill because they couldn’t pay on time. Consumer’s survey also found 6% of people had been disconnected due to unpaid bills sometime in the past, 8% have been denied as a customer by an energy provider due to a history of missed payments, 5% have had to switch to a pre-pay plan because of trouble paying bills, and 41% of people on pre-pay plans have had their electrcity or gas cut at some point. Consumer NZ's Powerswitch manager, Paul Fuge, has outlined the seriousness of energy hardship in NZ. Seven per cent of people have had to take out loans to pay bills, and 14% have had to borrow from family or friends to pay. Consumer’s latest quarterly sentiment survey in April showed 35% of people ranked the cost of energy as a top-three financial concern. It was 21% last April. “These surveys were undertaken before the latest price rises,” said Fuge. “Prices now are on average 11% higher than they were towards the end of last year. “As shown in the survey results, many households were already struggling with high power prices, and the latest increases will only make this worse.” Statistics New Zealand data for June showed power prices had jumped 10.4% in a year. Much of that increase reflects a power price spike since April, when higher transmission charges fed into household power bills. MBIE’s quarterly survey of domestic electricity prices, based on advertised electricity rates rather than final power bills, showed a 10.1% increase in the quarter to June compared with the previous quarter. Much of recent power price increases reflect a power price spike in April, when higher transmission charges fed into household power bills. Photo / Transpower Credit reporting agency Centrix’s June Credit Indicator Report showed nearly 15,000 individual bill payers were in financial hardship overall. The number of people behind on their bills in May was 485,000, an increase of 2000 from April. Overall, 12.51% of the credit-active population is in arrears. ‘It shouldn’t be a privilege’ Advocacy group Common Grace says New Zealand needs to tackle energy hardship urgently because it has such a big impact on people’s lives. “We believe it shouldn’t be a privilege to have power,” co-director Kate Day told the Herald. “Electricity is an essential service, and it’s something that everyone should be able to afford. But at a really basic level, that’s not the reality in Aotearoa at the moment. “We have tens of thousands of households cut off from this basic essential service because they can’t afford to pay their bills. And at a base level, that’s not okay.” Kate Day, co-director of charity Common Grace, says access to electricity should not be a privilege. Photo / Common Grace Popular anger over energy hardship has focused on the power companies charging the higher bills, especially the big four – Mercury, Contact, Genesis and Meridian – which collectively made profits of $2.85 billion last year or $7.8 million a day. In the past few months, there have been increasing public calls for these former state-owned companies – nicknamed “gentailers” because they generate electricity as well as sell it – to be broken up, since critics claim they have too much power to set prices. And even if that doesn’t happen, advocates such as Common Grace and Consumer argue that power companies should do more by dropping disconnection fees making sure their customers are on the cheapest possible rate giving discounts to those in hardship being more transparent about who they turn away for bad credit scores. Last year, following a Power to the People campaign by the New Zealand Herald and Common Grace, Contact Energy dropped its disconnection fees. This winter, after the abrupt price hikes felt by all New Zealanders since April, the Herald is revisiting the same issues – including a detailed analysis this week of power company responses to the questions above. The head of the association representing electricity retailers and generators said they were working hard to tackle the issue. Erganz chief executive Bridget Abernethy says retailers provide a range of support options for struggling households. “No level of suffering or self-restricting of energy due to energy hardship is acceptable,” said Bridget Abernethy, chief executive of the Electricity Retailers’ and Generators’ Association of New Zealand (Erganz), which represents Contact Energy, Genesis Energy, Manawa Energy, Mercury, Meridian Energy, and Nova Energy. “Erganz members understand that access to energy is a necessity and are committed to supporting customers in hardship.” She said retailers provided a range of support options such as flexible payment plans, hardship funds, and referrals to services like EnergyMate, a coaching service to help households reduce their usage and bills. Which companies offer hardship discounts? Only a few power companies provide discounts for customers facing hardship, according to a survey conducted for this series by Common Grace. Mercury said it excluded 135 households from the April 1 price increase and froze their prices. It supported about 2000 customers a month experiencing financial hardship. Globug, owned by Mercury, gave the same answer. Contact has its “HandUp programme”, which it says gave individual payment options and discounted energy to customers in need. It said it also offered short-term energy credits for customers needing immediate relief, and full debt forgiveness to clear long-term, unmanageable debt. “In 2024, this programme assisted 3500 households, and in the last year, almost $500k of support has been offered.” Genesis, and now-defunct Frank, pointed to the Power Shout scheme, wherein 328,830 hours of free power were supplied to 4205 vulnerable customers. Toast, a not-for-profit social retailer, has up to 300 customers who have been referred by its community partners specifically for discounted power. “Toast provides them with all-year lower pricing than their previous retailer and also aims to discount their tariffs by 30% over winter months. They estimate these discounts will amount to $70,000 off standard Toast tariffs during winter 2025,” the company said. The remaining companies that responded to the survey said they did not provide discounted power. Meridian said, “In our experience, discounts are not the way to help people transition out of energy hardship.” Meridian has its Energy Wellbeing Programme. It provides customers with budgeting support, in-home assessments and tailored support to make their homes healthier, easier and cheaper to heat. “In some cases, this involves providing items like curtains, insulation, or heat pumps. With more than 2500 households already assisted, we have found this to be a far more sustainable solution.” Pulse did not offer discounts for hardship: “Our priority is to keep electricity pricing as low as we can for all customers. This year, as an example, from 1 April we only flowed through changes in network services charges and did not change our energy rates.” Nova said it did not offer discounts for hardship, preferring to work through its support teams. Ecotricity did not offer discounted power, but was “committed to supporting customers in hardship by offering flexible payment options, working closely with them to manage arrears and connecting them with external support services where appropriate”. Electric Kiwi pointed to its daily free hour of power. Pre-pay service Wise said it did not offer discounted power to people in hardship because that was difficult to define. Switch Utilities said it did not offer hardship discounts because the issue was “wider than those in immediate hardship”. A band-aid solution? Wellington-based charity Fincap said the industry had made an effort, but it might be a band-aid solution. “There has been a lot of effort from industry over the last five years to provide more assistance to people, and a greater recognition that electricity is an essential service,” said senior policy adviser Jake Lilley. Fincap senior policy adviser Jake Lilley says there has been some movement from the industry to curb hardship, but more should be done. Photo / Fincap “There’s also been a strengthening of the consumer care obligations from what were previously guidelines from the regulator. “But we still get back to an issue of if it’s simply unaffordable, what happens? “We’re concerned that that’s a bit of a band-aid for the affordability issues. “We have our financial mentors telling us that a lot of people will go and get advances from work and income to keep the lights on.” Fuge, from Consumer, said he believed energy providers were genuinely concerned about the impact of energy hardship, “It’s important to recognise that energy hardship is often a symptom of broader poverty, and it would be wrong to suggest that electricity retailers are the cause of that hardship. The underlying issue is systemic.” And retailers’ policies and schemes to help people were often “disparate and inconsistent”, Fuge said. Kimberley O'Sullivan, University of Otago, says her research has shown more than a quarter million households were exposed to hardship. Photo / University of Otago “It’s a patchwork safety net with gaps –often a bit of a lottery as to who receives assistance and who doesn’t. “The most effective way to address energy hardship is to reduce electricity prices.” University of Otago professor Kimberly O’Sullivan agreed, saying the real answer was changing the system. ”We know that over 360,000 households in NZ are exposed to energy hardship, and the level of support for those schemes pales in comparison to the dividends that electricity retail companies pay to their shareholders,” O’Sullivan said. “It’s time to think about who we want our electricity system to deliver for – and I’d prefer if it was delivering better for people in our communities and also our small and medium businesses. “The true cost of home energy unaffordability isn’t borne by electricity retail shareholders, but by households and the public health system.” Abernethy, from Erganz, said energy hardship was a complex issue that couldn’t be solved by the industry alone. As she struggles to keep her home warm and herself and her son fed, Liz says she would not beg for help, but would ask for sympathy and understanding. Photo / Carson Bluck “There are many intersecting drivers, such as low income, poor housing quality, and the multiple cost pressures households are juggling.” However, O’Sullivan said her research on social retailer Toast showed its model worked well for regular customers and Energy Wellbeing Customers, who were referred by agencies after struggling to pay their bills. “Energy Wellbeing customers report improved health and wellbeing, and describe how relieving electricity bill stress enables them to feel more comfortable and relaxed at home, and better connect with their family, friends and community,” O’Sullivan said. “Regular customers also feel good about being able to help others in need while paying their electricity bills they would already be paying.” Any solution can’t come soon enough for Liz, who is at her wits’ end trying to reduce her debt and pay the next power bill. (The Herald has asked Mercury what measures it has taken to assist her.) “I don’t want to sit here and beg for help,” Liz told the Herald. All she needs, she says, is “just a little bit of understanding and sympathy”. Monday: As Kiwis battle rising electricity bills, campaigners call for change Tuesday: Could you get a cheaper plan for electricity? Most companies won’t tell Wednesday: Major company moves to stop disconnecting customers in hardship Thursday: Why our biggest power companies should be broken up (and why they shouldn’t) Sun, 27 Jul 2025 20:44:40 Z /news/business/how-kiwi-billionaire-peter-thiel-bankrolled-hulk-hogan-s-lawsuit-that-bankrupted-controversial-us-media-company/ /news/business/how-kiwi-billionaire-peter-thiel-bankrolled-hulk-hogan-s-lawsuit-that-bankrupted-controversial-us-media-company/ Kiwi billionaire Peter Thiel secretly bankrolled Hulk Hogan’s lawsuit against an online US news site after it published a sex tape of the former wrestling star.  Hogan, otherwise known as Terry Bollea, died in Clearwater Beach, Florida overnight aged 71 after emergency personnel responded to a call for a cardiac arrest.  He was rushed to Morton Plant Hospital where he was pronounced dead, Clearwater police said.  In 2016, a Florida jury awarded Hogan a nine-figure sum for invasion of privacy over a sex tape published online by American media website Gawker in 2012.  The legendary Hulk Hogan ❤️💛 pic.twitter.com/3daG7IDznf— WWE (@WWE) July 24, 2025 His lawsuit against the controversial blog was secretly backed by Thiel, an early investor in Facebook as well as New Zealand’s high-flying tech stock Xero, who was years earlier outed as being gay by Gawker.  In 2007, Gawker published an article targeting the billionaire with the headline: “Peter Thiel is totally gay, people”.  “Thiel, who is now open about his sexual orientation, once described the Gawker-owned site Valleywag as, ‘the Silicon Valley equivalent of Al Qaeda’,” the New York Times later wrote.  Hogan was awarded US$140 million ($232.2m) in damages in June 2016, which saw Gawker file for bankruptcy months later. Hogan eventually reached a US$31m ($51.4m) settlement with Gawker Media.  Thiel, now 57, told the New York Times in 2016 he funded Hogan as a means of going to battle with Gawker in response to their stories, saying he believed many of their targets were defenceless and unable to fight back.  “Gawker, the defendant, built its business on humiliating people for sport,” he said in a statement.  “They routinely relied on an assumption that victims would be too intimidated or disgusted to even attempt redress for clear wrongs. Freedom of the press does not mean freedom to publish sex tapes without consent. I don’t think anybody but Gawker would argue otherwise.”  Boella v. Gawker was the subject of a Netflix documentary, Nobody Speak: Trials of the Free Press in 2017 and a 2018 book by Ryan Holiday, Conspiracy: Peter Thiel, Hulk Hogan, Gawker, and the Anatomy of Intrigue.  Thiel was born in Germany but moved to America when he was only a year old. He became a New Zealand citizen in 2011.  “I am happy to say categorically that I have found no other country that aligns more with my view of the future than New Zealand,” Thiel wrote.  His citizenship became a minor national scandal in 2017 when the Ombudsman revealed that the billionaire had only spent 12 days in the country, less than 1% of the usual criteria.  Benjamin Plummer is an Auckland-based reporter for the New Zealand Herald who covers sport and breaking news. He has worked for the Herald since 2022.  Thu, 24 Jul 2025 22:54:41 Z /news/business/debt-collector-john-campbell-fined-1155k-for-misleading-conduct/ /news/business/debt-collector-john-campbell-fined-1155k-for-misleading-conduct/ Law Debt Collection and its founder and director John Stuart Campbell has been fined $115,500 after pleading guilty in Manukau District Court for breaches of the Fair Trading Act. It follows a Commerce Commission investigation. The commission began investigating the conduct of Campbell and his businesses, Law Debt Collection (NZ) Limited and Law Debt Collection Limited, following a number of complaints. It had previously issued a warning to Campbell in 2019 for likely harassment, coercion and misleading representations. The investigation found Campbell and Law Debt Collection (LDC) misled debtors by lodging or threatening to lodge credit defaults in situations where they had no right to do so. Campbell referred to the threat of credit defaults as his “greatest tool” and said “if the debtor really needs finance, they will have to settle the amount”. Commerce Commission competition, fair trading and credit general manager Vanessa Horne said that debt collectors have the right to pursue money legitimately but must do so fairly and honestly and not exploit their position over vulnerable consumers. Tom Raynel is a multimedia business journalist for the Herald, covering small business, retail and tourism. “Not only are debt collectors in a considerable position of power, which we believe in this case was exploited, most people have limited knowledge about the rules of what debt collection agencies can do when collecting debt,” Horne said. “Debt collectors must not take advantage of this and must not make misleading representations when collecting debts.” Horne explained a credit default could have a significant impact on a borrower’s credit score, making it harder to get approval for loans, credit cards and mortgages, making it an “incredibly serious threat”. “Mr Campbell and LDC crossed a line when they misled debtors about possible consequences of failing to pay, and what debt collectors could do when chasing payment. This likely caused unnecessary distress.” LDC also wrongfully claimed collection costs of up to $1507 on top of debts in some cases. The court fined Campbell and his businesses Law Debt Collection (NZ) Limited and Law Debt Collection Limited a total of $115,500, including emotional harm reparation payments for some victims. “At a time when more Kiwis are in debt, this case should serve as a warning to all debt collectors that they must follow the rules or the commission will take action.” Founded in 1986, LDC is a debt recovery business that provides a range of debt recovery and credit services. It was employed on approximately 1600 debt collection matters per year. Tue, 22 Jul 2025 01:36:05 Z