Best of Business

The Government's being slammed as dishonest after redirecting $70 million of the pandemic response fund, to Three Waters reforms. Official documents show the cash was diverted to Three Waters in April, despite Grant Robertson promising to only use the fund for the government's Covid response. National party Finance spokesperson Nicola Willis told Mike Hosking the Government hasn't been truthful. L...

Anger from the tourism industry over the lack of action and clarity from the Government. Back in May, the Government announced a $54 million recovery fund for the struggling sector as part of  the Budget. The scheme was pitched as a grant to fund innovative and sustainable tourism operations, but nothing has been paid out. Haka Tourism general manager Eve Lawrence told Kate Hawkesby all they want...

With Christmas right around the corner, we're being warned to be vigilant with online scams. A worldwide study by cyber security brand Norton shows almost a quarter of New Zealanders take more risks when online shopping during the holiday season. The study says inflation's somewhat to blame, as scammers are luring people in with promises of deals too good to be true. Norton Managing Director Mark...

The music industry is crying out for gig crew as concerts and festivals are set to be bigger than ever this summer. Industry experts say they're facing a staffing crisis with a serious lack of set-up and pack-down staff for all shows, ranging from small gigs to huge concerts. Production and Stage Manager Gavin Downie has been in the industry for 20 years and told Mike Hosking it's never been more...

Confidence that the four-day working week is just as beneficial for businesses as it is for their workers. Unilever New Zealand has run a voluntary trial for 18 months, with encouraging results. The trial saw stress drop by 33 percent, feelings of strength and vigour at work increase by 15 percent and work/life conflict fall by 67 percent. Managing director Cameron Heath told Mike Hosking the four...

The Council of Trade Unions says National's proposed tax plan would give peanuts to the working and middle classes. It's crunched the numbers based on IRD and National Party data. The council says the cut will cost 11 billion dollars over three years,  and will mostly benefit top income earners and property investors. CTU economist Craig Renney told Kate Hawkesby says there are better ways to spen...

A stark warning that inflation will continue to spark unemployment and wage growth problems for a long time to come. Economists are predicting our unemployment rate to come in as low as 3.1 percent today. But economists are also predicting wage growth to increase, which will put pressure on the Reserve Bank to drop interest rates. Economist Tony Alexander told Mike Hosking we're going to be in a s...

Shock from a horse breeder after Starship Children's Hospital's rejected a donation of more than half a million dollars. After a high-profile race win, Mark Chittick attempted to donate $570,000 dollars to the hospital. The Starship Foundation says while Starship is grateful for contributions, it's unable to accept all donations due to existing partnership obligations. But Mark Chittick told Mike...

Cookie Time is thanking the 'Costco effect' for a massive jump in sales. The Christchurch-based company is praising the works of the Auckland superstore, saying it's boosted sales by more than a million since opening in September. The cookie manufacturer says due to the recent success, it's now set to supply its cookies for other Costco stores internationally. Cookie Time Managing Director Guy Pop...

Which bit are we surprised about? Air New Zealand tells people to book early because fares are going up. Headlines scream how unhappy we are because fares are going up. Be as unhappy as you want, things ain't changing. We have a bit of experience around airfares at the moment. We have a family member looking to get home from Europe. The ability to get a seat, far less wince at the price, has been...

Air fares are expected to remain high for a number of months, as Air New Zealand says there aren't enough seats to meet demand. Consumers are complaining of sky high prices as demand for both domestic and international travel rises with the approaching holiday season. Domestic capacity in New Zealand's close to a hundred percent, with international flight capacity at 65 percent. That's expected to...

More signs of the cost of living crisis are beginning to show. People are taking out more personal loans to maintain their household budgets rather than splashing on luxury items. The number of people missing mortgage payments has also  tipped over one percent. Centrix Managing Director Keith McLaughlin told Mike Hosking there has also been more hospitality and construction businesses defaulting....

If it's not broken, don't fix it: that's the message an immigration lawyer has for the Government after only one person's applied for the Government's new investor visa. The initiative was set up to bring high-value businesspeople to Aotearoa to increase economic gain and opened in September. When the policy was launched, Immigration Minister Michael Wood said the visa category would help attract...

The number of businesses going under is still below pre-pandemic figures, but the rate is increasing. A BWA Insolvency report has found there's been a 48 percent increase in formal insolvencies in the third quarter, compared to the second. BWA Insolvency founder, Bryan Williams, says that pre-Covid 25-hundred businesses went under a year... it's currently about 15-hundred. He told Mike Hosking tha...

Business New Zealand is poking holes in the proposed Fair Pay Agreements legalisation. The rules mean if a thousand employees, or 10 percent of a workforce, agree to start the collective bargaining process, that process is automatically triggered. The Fair Pay Agreements legislation is expected to pass its third reading in Parliament later today. Business New Zealand Chief Executive Kirk Hope told...

The decision yesterday to grant four Uber drivers workplace protection as employees may have been greeted with celebrations by some, but it was short lived. Uber will appeal the decision, but the wider conversation now turns to the gig economy companies and contractors and what this will mean for them. Max Whitehead is an employment relations expert and he joined Mike Hosking. LISTEN ABOVE See omn...

Since the clean car rebate came into effect of April this year, $35 million has been paid out to buyers of Teslas - which have a starting price of about $70,000. And while subsidising Teslas, the Government has taxed farmers and tradies who currently have no alternative vehicle option to do their job. National spokesperson for Transport, Simeon Brown, joined Mike Hosking. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystud...

Mortgages are the story of the week – that inflation reading has pushed up fixed term interest rates for the first time in a while, when most thought that fixed term rates had peaked.  Whether it’s hit you yet or not, interest is soon going to be taking a bigger chunk of your income – so what should you be doing to ensure you not only continue to survive, but continue to make progress while intere...

Mainfreight says its estimated profit before tax has improved nearly 66 per cent to $301.7 million after 26 weeks of trading. Estimated revenue after 26 weeks trading had improved 32.5 per cent to $3.01 billion, the international transport and logistics company said in a market update during an investor day presentation. The NZX-listed company will post its half year results on November 10. It out...

The markets are breathing a sigh of relief as British Prime Minister Liz Truss calls it quits. Truss was in the job for only 44 days, making her the third to resign in as many years, and the shortest Prime Minister in history. Her tax cut plan proved to be her downfall, with the British economy tanking before rebounding after a dramatic U-turn earlier in the week. It's expected the markets will re...

Imagine your fixed term mortgage rate being upwards of seven percent over the next few years. Well according to ASB we don't have to imagine - it will be a reality. Their latest home loan report says they predict the peak interest rate for fixed term will be between 7-7.5 percent while floating rates could peak at 9 percent - all based on the OCR peaking at 5.25 percent. Chief economist at ASB Nic...

The aviation sector is rebounding a lot better than expected. Auckland Airport has revised its 2023 financial year profit to between $100-130 million, up from $50-100 million. It's due to the high aircraft load factors, meaning how many seats are filled, and the extra flights coming in from early next month. Auckland Airport CEO Carrie Hurihanganui joined Mike Hosking. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio....

Today's the 35th anniversary of Black Monday, the day in 1987 where the world experienced a brief, but violent stock market crash. The odds of a crash on this level happening again are extremely low, but we've had plenty of smaller-scale stock crashes happen since that day. New Zealand Herald business editor Liam Dann joined us to weigh up the risks of this happening again. LISTEN ABOVE See omnyst...

One of the biggest water parks in the country will be able to stay open after "bureaucratic red tape" threatened to close it. Kiwi Water Park in Cromwell was looking at closure because of a traffic issue - the turn off for it was on a 100 km/h road and there was no right hand turning bay which did not please Land Information NZ or Waka Kotahi. So they threatened to close the place because safety w...

There's been a big uptick in sponsorship deals across women's sports. A major international report has revealed a 20 percent increase year-on-year in 2022, with the arrival of blue chip global sponsors further fuelling growth. It comes, of course, as we're hosting the Rugby World Cup Women's event. Rebecca Sowden, former New Zealand Football Fern and founder of women's sport sponsorship consultanc...