Best of Business

1500 travel delegates from around the world are in Christchurch for the county's biggest tourism business event. Tourism Industry Aotearoa says the TRENZ conference will help to shape New Zealand's tourism economy for years to come. TRENZ was last held in person in 2019, and this is the first time Ōtautahi has hosted the event since 2006. Infometrics Principal Economist Brad Olsen says TRENZ has g...

The pressure is on for the US Government to potentially raise the debt ceiling. Because recent tax receipts have been lower than expected, the US Government runs the risk of being unable to meet their financial obligations and defaulting. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has warned that without more borrowing, the US will not have enough money to meet these obligations by June 1. Milford Asset Mana...

New Zealand investment into companies linked to deforestation has been trending upward in the last few months. According to research carried out by ethical investment charity Mindful Money, investment into companies known to contribute to deforestation has increased by 79 percent in one year. Mindful Money's report also shows that most of these investments are coming from KiwiSaver funds. Mindful...

The Motor Trade Association have launched a pre-election call to action. Their big call includes phasing out the Clean Car Discount, Warrant of Fitness reset, mandate emissions testing and streamlining immigration processes. Chief Executive Lee Marshall told Mike Hosking the rebate is currently running at a huge loss. He says the scheme is currently sat in a $200 million hole and despite claims it...

Some big news for Air New Zealand has come this morning. Their domestic network has returned to pre-Covid capacity, while their international network is nearly back at 91 per cent, with 4.5 million seats set to be flown over the next six months. Their Skynest are also now confirmed on New York and Chicago routes from 2024. And a $3.5 billion investment is being made into new aircraft, while also r...

Bars, pubs and licensed clubs will be able to stay open and televise this year’s men’s Rugby World Cup matches with the Government again committing to temporarily changing the law. Justice Minister Kiri Allan confirmed to the  Herald  that a bill could be introduced to Parliament in June to amend the Sale And Supply of Alcohol Act 2012 that will allow venues to open without needing to go through t...

So how much of a hit is yesterdays wild weather to Auckland businesses? The city ground to a standstill again as heavy rain and flooding lead to another local state of emergency. Heart of the City CEO Viv Beck joined Kate Hawkesby. LISTEN ABOVE   See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Australian Government has announced their first budget surplus in 15 years. The annual Budget includes handouts for cost of living pressures, with extra money for electricity subsidies, renewable energy, anti-smoking measures, and pay rises for aged care workers. Business Editor at Sky News Australia Ross Greenwood joined Mike Hosking to discuss. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for pr...

Around $650 million- $960 million of government support is needed to grow back Hawke's Bay's local horticulture industry, according to a new report. 35 per cent of the region’s horticultural crop has been impacted by the cyclone and without any extra support the sector will not be able to rebuild again. Horticulture NZ President Barry O'Neil joined Mike Hosking. LISTEN ABOVE     See omnystudio.com...

Credit bureau Centrix has teamed up with the country’s leading buy now, pay later providers to keep users out of financial trouble. PayWatch is a credit reporting system that will allow leading BNPL providers Afterpay, Zip and Laybuy to share overdue account data and flag borrowers behind on payments. Centrix chief operating officer Monika Lacey says PayWatch will enable buy now, pay later provide...

Australia's Budget Day is today. The claim is they are going to present a surplus, which is little short of a miracle. I also read that trade with China is at record levels. This is Australia and China, the two that were at each other's throats after Scott Morrison wanted an inquiry into Covid origins. The Chinese, having none of that, started whacking tariffs on barley and wine and beef. What Aus...

This year New Zealand will feature at Eurovision. Kiwi wine company Invivo will be the official prosecco of the Eurovision song contest. All the VIPs and contestants backstage will have a bit of Kiwi bubbles in hand. Invivo co-founder Tim Lightbourne joined Mike Hosking. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Developers are holding back from starting new developments as house prices continue to drop. The latest QV House Price Index shows values reduced by an average 4.5 percent in the first four months of the year. The national average home value is now around $902,000. QV national spokesperson Simon Petersen says it's a difficult time for both buyers and sellers - impacting developments. LISTEN ABOVE...

Free coffee and snacks at work may soon be a thing of the past, as businesses look to cut costs ahead of the looming recession. A Frog Recruitment survey of more than 500 workers found for a quarter, employee benefits like complimentary coffees and gym memberships were scrapped in the past six months. Frog Recruitment managing director Shannon Barlow says companies are cutting smaller perks, and s...

Tony Alexander joins us on the show to ask has the bottom fallen out of the property market? LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Along with Kazakhstan we are the only countries in the world to allow 100 per cent of our fossil fuel emissions to offset all our greenhouse gas by planting trees. Some suggest that this is placing us as an outlier to the rest of the world and damaging our agricultural sector and rural communities. Beef and Lamb chief executive Sam McIvor joined Mike Hosking. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listen...

US earnings season is still underway, and plenty of companies are celebrating- others may have a darker outlook. An expert from Fisher Funds explained that this earnings season has become a case of haves and have nots, with tech companies like Meta and Microsoft reporting high profits and growth. Sam Dickie from Fisher Funds says energy stocks and oil equities are seeing earnings downgrades and fa...

BNZ made an after-tax profit of $805 million in the last six months to the end of March. This represents a 13.5 percent rise in profit on the same period last year when BNZ made an after-tax profit of $709m. BNZ chief executive Dan Huggins explained that a strong banking sector was important for New Zealand’s economy. NZ Herald business editor at large Liam Dann says the larger banks have been mak...

New Zealand introducing a capital gains tax is back in the spotlight following the release of the bombshell IRD report. Sir Ian Taylor has voiced support for a capital gains tax and reckons other business people he knows would be happy to pay one. He explained that a capital gains tax would help cover the significant costs New Zealand faces in terms of health, education and infrastructure. "That's...

Sharesies' new offering to their Kiwisaver scheme is designed to give members more control and choice in their investments. The Kiwi investing platform is introducing a 'self-select’ option that allows members to self-select up to 50 per cent of their investment plan in individual exchange-traded funds and stocks. Matt Macpherson, head of KiwiSaver at Sharesies says it's important that users get m...

The unemployment rate for March has remained steady at 3.4 percent, with 102,000 people still out of work. Under utilisation fell to 9 percent, while participation and employment rates increased to record highs. General Manager of Talent Solutions at Randstad Ian Scott joined Mike Hosking. LISTEN ABOVE   See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

As one of our largest trading partners, our relationship with the UK is of huge importance. The two way goods and services trade was worth $6 billion pre-Covid - and that was before we signed the Free Trade Agreement in February of last year, which just got passed through the UK Parliament in late march this year. New Zealand Trade Commissioner to the UK, Joseph Nelson, joined Mike Hosking. LISTEN...

You'll probably know the Kiwi company, Karma Drinks. They're an ethical drinks company which launched in New Zealand back in 2012. They are a massive success story in Britain, which now accounts for about half their business. And out of its 25 staff - seven are based in the UK. UK Marketing and Sales Director at Karma Jessamy Besson-Jones joined Kate Hawkesby. LISTEN ABOVE   See omnystudio.com/lis...

The expected economic downturn has yet to make a dent in the labour market, with unemployment holding steady at 3.4 percent. Other factors are at record highs, including the labour participation rate and the employment rate increased by 72 percent and 69.5 percent. Infometrics Principal Economist Brad Olsen says this indicates the incoming recession may be different, as several businesses are stil...

The US corporate earnings season is still underway- and AI may be impacting investments. Companies across America have been dropping more references and concepts relating to the widespread use of AI, particularly within the tech sector.  Milford Asset Management Portfolio Manager Felix Fok says Google, Meta, Microsoft and Amazon are investing more into AI-generated advertising and assistance aimed...