Best of Business

Farmers can't catch a break in Bay of Plenty. It's the region's worst maize harvest in decades with around 60 percent of crops wiped out due to the weather. But is it all doom and gloom? Bay of Plenty Federated Farmers provincial president Brent Mountford joined Kate Hawkesby to discuss. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

There are concerns the hike to minimum wage could be devastating for businesses. The Government has announced the minimum wage will rise by $1.50 to $22.70 from April. Business New Zealand CEO Kirk Hope told Mike Hosking the ability for businesses to pass this cost on is very low. He says if a business has no capital left effectively to pay this, and can't increase prices because then they'll face...

Global inflation appears to have peaked and may start heading down in the coming months. Central banks across the world are also predicted to slow down their rate hikes soon. Milford Asset Management's Mark Riggall says that 2022 was focused around addressing excessive global inflation and the share-markets will have an easier time ahead.  LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy infor...

Four University of Technology Sydney (UTS) students have created a house rental platform aimed at young renters. Nesteek is an Airbnb-style website that allows young renters to list their properties while they travel by getting guest to cover the rent duration of their trip. Keith Schembri, Nesteek co-founder and CEO says the company has been doing better than expected, and that they plan to expan...

In this edition of The Huddle, Tim Wilson from Maxim Institute and Phil O'Reilly from Iron Duke Partners joined in on a discussion about the following issues of the day- and more! The minimum wage is going up by $1.50 in the biggest increase in 16 years. Can businesses afford this on top of everything else? The TVNZ/RNZ merger has been scrapped- why did it take so long? Did the Government figure o...

Prime Minister Chris Hipkins has raised the minimum wage by $1.50 to $22.70 per hour by April 1. Hipkins has conceded that small businesses will find the minimum wage increase "difficult". Employers and Manufacturers Association head Brett O'Riley says that this wage increase will be implemented at a tough time for businesses. "When we are so close to the beginning of the next financial year for m...

DairyNZ chief executive Dr Tim Mackle will be departing the role on June 30, 2023. Dr Mackle has been in the role for 15 years and led DairyNZ through difficult financial times, including the 2008/09 global recession and Covid-19. He says with the company in a good position, this was the the best time to step down. "We've got a great strategy in place now to deliver more value to farmers and farme...

Police are standing by their approach to retail crime in the wake of surging incident reports. They received a record 10,000 reports of retail crime in the month of October last year, and the average in the year to November has almost doubled compared to 2018. But Police say numbers are probably up because they've made it easier for businesses to report incidents. Police Assistant Commissioner Jev...

Concern over the latest data on online dating and romance scams. The Norton Cyber Safety Insights Report surveyed just over 1,000 New Zealand adults, and found a quarter have fallen victim. More than half have suffered financial losses, on average $264. Systems Engineer Dean Williams told Kate Hawkesby we're not alone, with other countries showing similar rates. He says overall it's quite alarming...

A cutting edge development in the fight for sustainability in the food and fibre sector. New Zealand based company Environmental Decontamination has cracked a way to grind mussel shells into calcium carbonate. It's a product used in paper, concrete and paint. New Zealand currently processes around 100,000 tonnes of green-lipped mussels, which generates around 55,000 tonnes of waste per year. Proje...

The Reserve Bank of Australia has raised the cash rate up by 25 basis points to 3.35 percent. This is the ninth rate hike in a row, raising Australia's OCR to the highest it's been since 2012. HSBC Chief Economist Paul Bloxham says this rate hike wasn't a surprise, as several economists had predicted this increase and suspect that this won't be the last. "To get inflation to come down, we should e...

Jarden is predicting Air New Zealand will announce a full-year dividend in August. This will be the first full dividend for Air New Zealand since pre-Covid. BusinessDesk managing editor Pattrick Smellie says this is a departure from two years ago, where the company was relying on Government subsidies to keep them afloat. Pattrick Smellie says this proves Air New Zealand was able to bounce back qui...

Latest data shows the tourism sector could be short 80,000 staff, an increase of 13,000 more than last year, with some concerned we may be going backwards. National have their own ideas of how we could fix the sector including scrapping the median wage and replacing it with an industry average, making sure key tourism roles have a pathway to residence, and processing work visas faster. But what do...

Thousands of tourism businesses remain desperately short of staff, with the latest figures showing the sector could be short as many as 80,000 staff - around 13,000 more than last year. As tourism returns to our shores, many visitors have found businesses closed or operating on limited hours due to staffing issues. General manager of Haka Tours and ANZ Nature Tours Eve Lawrence joined Kate Hawkesb...

Microsoft Teams won't be all-free anymore, they're putting up a paywall   They're going to offer a "Premium" tier, costing $7 per user per month.   Some of the features will move from the free tier to the premium tier like live translated captions, together mode customizations and virtual appointments.   But they'll also add some new extras too the most exciting one being an integration with Chat...

National is accusing the Government of having its head in the sand, about the prospect of a recession. Finance Minister Grant Robertson has told Newstalk ZB he's confident New Zealand can still avoid a recession, despite the Reserve Bank's efforts to engineer one. But a new forecast from Infometrics suggests a recession is inevitable, given the slowdown in sectors like construction. National Finan...

An economic consultancy group says a recession is inevitable. That's despite Finance Minister Grant Robertson saying it isn't a foregone conclusion. Infometrics says while recent GDP growth was higher than expected,  it probably won't continue as sectors like construction slow down. Chief Forecaster Gareth Kiernan says it will also lead to job losses.  He expects the unemployment rate to hit 4.3 p...

A new report from Westpac shows tough times ahead for the building industry. The figures show construction demand will fall due to cheaper house prices and rising interest rates. The slowdown has already started in the North Island, where new stats show a decline in building consents being issued Naylor Love Chief Executive Rick Herd told Mike Hosking Westpac might have even been a little optimist...

The recent Auckland floods may be bad news for the economy. Hundreds of houses will need to be repaired, businesses are grappling with ruined stock, and the damages are estimated to be over a billion dollars. NZ Herald business editor at large, Liam Dann, says the Auckland floods have come at a bad time at this point in the current economic cycle. Liam Dann says the extra stimulus generated by the...

The first of stats are in regarding mortgage holders' ability to deal with the new and ugly increased mortgage interest rates, and so far so good. Those with homes and mortgages collectively paid $3.5 billion of interest to banks in the December quarter, 53 percent more than just over a year earlier when interest rates were the lowest on record.   Record high wages have helped when it comes to mor...

The proof in the pudding that if you hand out free stuff people become addicted, is to be found in the already alarming concerns being expressed as to how life will continue at the end of this month, and then again, at the end of March when the fuel subsidies come off. The warning is already out from the transport people over the price of everything that’s transported, which is, well, basically ev...

Unemployment remains at a record low of 3.4 percent and wages are continuing to rise. In the December quarter all salary and wage rates increased 4.1 percent, and in the private sector wages rose 4.3 percent. The labour market seems to remain tight, with low employment and high wages adding to cost pressures. Investment strategist and economist at Jarden, John Carran, joined Mike Hosking. LISTEN A...

Finance Minister Grant Robertson is defending the decision to extend the fuel tax subsidy. Chris Hipkins has announced the 25 cent fuel tax cuts, and half-price public transport will now run until the end of June. Robertson said in December running it past the original March date wasn't sustainable, but that changed with Hipkins' succession. He told Mike Hosking Hipkins wanting the cost of living...

Wellington's local economy looks to be the big winners from Ed Sheeran's concert tonight. The pop superstar is playing to a crowd of 48,000 at Sky Stadium, the largest single day event for the venue. He's also playing two shows at Auckland's Eden Park next week. Wellington NZ General Manager Warrick Dent told Mike Hosking 35 percent of the people coming to the show are from outside of the capital....

The fuel tax subsidy extension has alleviated fears from the trucking sector. Prime Minister Chris Hipkins yesterday announced the fuel price subsidy, and half-priced public transport fares will be extended until the end of June. The extension, originally due to end in March, is estimated to cost $718 million. Prior to the extension, trucking groups said that had it ended in March, consumers would...