Best of Business

A GDT auction is taking place. It's expected to head largely sideways, and even with high dairy prices, the dollar is playing ball. The red meat sector has seen a drop in volume but a growth in value. The Country executive producer Rowena Duncum joined Heather du Plessis-Allan. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

New Zealand is being eyed up as a country of choice for overseas businesses looking to expand. A number of franchises from fast food to beauty services are set to launch on our shores in the next year or two. New Zealand is top of the list for franchise destinations, and we're the most franchised country per head of population. Franchising lawyer Stewart Germann joined Heather du Plessis-Allan. LI...

Jacinda Ardern is still in the early days of her trade trip to Australia. But it hasn't been smooth sailing. Ardern has been at odds with ANZ New Zealand chief executive Antonia Watson over immigration. BusinessDesk managing director Pattrick Smellie joined Heather du Plessis-Allan. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Trade Me job listings have fallen 5 percent compared to this time last year. However, wages are still climbing as employers are fighting to secure talent. The data shows that the nationwide average salary is now at $66,000. Trade Me Jobs sales director Matt Tolich joined Heather du Plessis-Allan. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The business community is feeling downbeat. Business confidence is back down to March 2020 levels, with 62 percent of businesses expecting economic conditions to deteriorate. New Zealand Institute of Economic Research Principal Economist Christina Leung says worker shortages are troubling Kiwi firms. She told Heather du Plessis-Allan border restrictions loosening could change that. “So we do expec...

An interest rate of 1 percent seems impossible right now, but ANZ is banking on it to get you to be more sustainable. The bank has launched their Good Energy home loan - you can borrow up to $80,000 at a three year fixed rate of 1 percent to either increase the energy efficiency of your home, or to buy the likes of an EV or hybrid. Managing Director for Personal Banking at ANZ Ben Kelleher joined...

A lack of consumer confidence is taking a bite out of demand for credit. Centrix data shows lending demand in June was lower for the commercial and business sectors. Correspondingly, it means missed home loan payments are also down. Managing Director Keith McLaughlin told Mike Hosking there's a major factor at play. He says if people don't have confidence in their ability to repay a loan, they won...

The return of foreign workers isn't the golden ticket to fix the country's labour woes. Work visa applications have officially opened - the final part of the Government's accredited employer work visa policy. Partners and dependents of work visa applications can also apply from today. PERSOLKELLY General Manager Wendy Hewson told Mike Hosking there are still a number of challenges to get through....

The Film Commission's talking up the benefits of multi-million dollar subsidies for the upcoming Avatar movies. Newstalk ZB has revealed the next four movies have so far received $140 million in production grants. Film Commission Chair Dame Kerry Prendergast told Mike Hosking it's provided 20,000 jobs in the past year. She says they've just had a report done which shows for every dollar spent on t...

I can see why we have resource consent issues in this country and it’s virtually impossible to get anything done. We’re experiencing it first hand at the moment with the Auckland Council. We put in a building consent to build a pool, a very straight forward pool, not building hydro slides and dive boards and turreted pool houses with fancy gates. Just a pool and the obligatory pool fence. We had a...

Jacinda Ardern and Anthony Albanese are expected to meet at the Australia-New Zealand Leadership Forum at the end of the week in Sydney. It will be the first time the Forum has taken place in person since the pandemic. It will also be attended by ministers Damien O'Connor (trade and export growth), Stuart Nash (tourism and small business), Willie Jackson (Māori development), Michael Wood (immigrat...

One of the candidates in Auckland's mayoral race says trams are out, buses are in. Viv Beck wants to scrap the Government's $14 billion light rail project and build new busways and bus lanes instead. If elected, she would push for a city-wide rapid transit network, including a fully separated busway alongside the Northwestern Motorway, rapid transit from the airport to Botany, $110 million in upgr...

Grant Robertson hopes to get to Australia for talks this week if he recovers from Covid-19. The Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister is expected to join Jacinda Ardern in Australia on Thursday. Robertson told Heather du Plessis-Allan he'll meet with his finance counterpart Jim Chalmers. “Start to get into a bit more detail about how we take forward what’s called the single economic market, w...

The Immigration Minister is sticking by comments he made about the hospitality and tourism sectors. Michael Wood says businesses with low wages need to raise them to attract more workers here. He's been blasted by opposition parties, with ACT’s Chris Baillie labelling his remarks an attack on business. But Wood told Heather du Plessis Allan there's no need to apologise. “I’ve talked to some worker...

New Zealand and the EU has signed a free trade agreement. The Government say this will grow exports to the EU by $1.8 billion a year by 2035. However, meat and dairy aren't happy with it, given how much they are allowed to provide Europe from their respective sectors. Business commentator Rod Oram joined Heather du Plessis-Allan. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Reserve Bank has said the tide has turned against housing being a one-way bet for investment. And once again, the central bank is also predicting a drop in house prices. This time, they're predicting a drop of around 15 percent. Housing commentator Ashley Church joined Heather du Plessis-Allan. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Business leaders say it's fair for the dairy and meat sectors to be disappointed in the new free trade agreement. It's been struck between the EU and New Zealand, but dairy and meat will still face tariffs and much lower quotas than they hoped for. NZ International Business Forum's Stephen Jacobi told Heather du Plessis-Allan the EU simply isn't willing to open its market to those sectors but a ca...

The Reserve Bank is warning housing may no longer be a one-way bet for increasing wealth. Its Chief Economist Paul Conway says changes to the tax system, zoning and slowing population growth mean the housing market isn't going to be as strong. He told Mike Hosking it will mean people will need to increase their financial literacy and building wealth will become more complex. Conway says New Zealan...

Should we be outraged at Geoff Ross for their farming techniques? The entrepreneur has been labelled woke for his sheep shearing techniques on his carbon-zero Lake Hawea farm. These include having sheep bouncing on mattresses and playing classical music while shearing. The Country host Jamie Mackay joined Heather du Plessis-Allan. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The investing landscape has changed pretty dramatically over the last 12 months. This time last year, global inflation was running at around 2 percent, central banks talking raising interest rates wasn't on the cards and global stock market volatility was low. Today, inflation is running at 9 percent, interest rates have gone up 6 times in the US and the market is expecting another 8, and volatili...

The June ANZ Business Outlook survey showed firms are increasingly pessimistic about the outlook for activity and profitability. However, it is the ongoing issues of inflation and an economy running at capacity causing most headaches, not recessionary forces. The data would do nothing to ease RBNZ concerns about the potential for a wage-price spiral developing, said ANZ chief economist Sharon Zoll...

The Kiwi owners of a laundry detergent brand labelled "worse than water" in a recent Consumer NZ tests are disputing the results and could take legal action. Grant Taylor and Renee Lee's Re. Stor laundry sheets performed "terribly" at removing stains according to the Consumer NZ test published this week. According to the Consumer NZ tests the tropical scented Re.stor Concentrated Laundry Detergent...

At PWC in Britain, the pay rise coming is 9 percent. They employ about 20,000 locally. Some pay rises will be as high as 10 percent . The chairman says you can't ignore reality, which is true. Given the job market, if you are not offering the 9 percent, someone is. And that person will be hoovering up the scare resource that makes up today's labour market. Locally, Air New Zealand is offering in h...

New Zealand researchers could provide the answer to the opioid epidemic. Victoria University has received a $1.2 million grant to advance the development of a safer opioid alternative to the pre-clinical phase. Associate Professor Bronwyn Kivel told Mike Hosking one in five New Zealand adults suffer from chronic pain, and half of those report current treatments don't offer much relief. She says th...

NATO's agreed to a fundamental shift to how it responds to Russia's invasion of Ukraine. The alliance has wrapped up a summit in Madrid, agreeing to set up a permanent army headquarters in Poland and make an unshakeable commitment to Ukraine Jacinda Ardern has addressed the summit, and says the war is the single biggest issue facing the continent. Ardern is now on her way to Brussels, where she'll...