Best of Business

Economies are slowing down all over the world- with many poised to enter technical recessions. Australia's economy has stalled and unemployment rates are set to rise, leading experts to believe the region will follow New Zealand into a technical recession. HSBC Chief Economist Paul Bloxham says there are lots of ways to think about whether an economy has tipped into a recession.  "Is it really a r...

The Government and BlackRock have joined forces to create a climate infrastructure fund to support 100 percent renewable electricity generation. The fund is designed to provide access to greater pools of capital for New Zealand, create jobs, and accelerate green energy options, including solar, wind, and hydrogen. BusinessDesk managing editor Pattrick Smellie says BlackRock are essentially offerin...

If I said to you, there was one thing all the political parties need to stop doing straight away, what do you think it would be? One thing that pretty much every party is doing. The ones on the left. The ones on the right. The ones in the middle. They’re all doing it. What do you think it would be? It would be these ridiculous promises that, if they’re part of the next government, we’ll be paying...

Shareholders in New Zealand's main fast food company are having to swallow some tough financial news. Restaurant Brands, which owns KFC, Pizza Hut, Carl's Junior and Taco Bell is expecting to see just half the full year profit it achieved last year. It's due to inflation around both wages and the cost of ingredients. JMI Wealth Director Andrew Kelleher told Mike Hosking the company hasn't been abl...

The wind energy sector is praising the Government's move to help fast track three new wind farms. The projects in Southland, at Waiuku south of Auckland, and near Palmerston North are set to generate as much power as the Clyde Dam. They'll also save 150 million kilograms of carbon emissions. Wind Energy Association Chief Executive Kevin Hart says the move will help the industry. Hart says he's exc...

The country's main fast food company says its full year profit could be half of last year's. Restaurant Brands, responsible for KFC, Taco Bell, Carl's Junior and Pizza Hut, is blaming inflation. Devon Funds Management Retail Manager Greg Smith told Kate Hawkesby there's a clear driver of higher costs in the sector. He says the price of ingredients has risen threefold in some cases. The company is...

Meat exporters have been watching the global spat between the US and China, and some worry New Zealand may be caught in the crossfire. New Zealand's leading trade negotiator Vangelis Vitalis has warned the golden weather for trade policy is over and the region has to be careful going forward. NZME business commentator Fran O'Sullivan says tensions are high between the US and China and New Zealand...

It's one thing to have a great idea but how do you turn that into a business? Lisa Dudson gives her insight.  LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Bleak news has come for dairy farmers this morning. Fonterra has drastically reduced its forecast Farmgate Milk Price for the current season due to ongoing reduced demand from China. The midpoint has plummeted from $8/kg of milk solids, to just $7. Fonterra boss Miles Hurrell is blaming a recent 12 percent drop in the price of whole milk powder, due to much lower than expected demand from China. T...

Who doesn't love a bit of good wine news on a Friday - the bottle can already be heard opening. Invivo's Sarah Jessica Parker sauvignon blanc has just won tenders for US airlines – to be served on international premier and business class across the US. The Disney cruise line will also be arriving in New Zealand soon and Invivo have secured the wine onboard. Invivo co-founder Tim Lightbourne joined...

US markets plummeted overnight following Fitch downgrading the US credit rating from AAA to AA+. The agency cited fiscal deterioration over the next three years and drawn-out debt ceiling negotiations. Fisher Funds senior portfolio manager Sam Dickie says the fiscal situation in the US Government has been heavily publicised, meaning Fitch mulled over their decision to downgrade. LISTEN ABOVE See o...

Robertson and Hipkins have admitted Government's books are in a more challenging position than expected- but deny claims of a fiscal hole. The Finance Minister confirmed he met with public service chiefs for a meeting about monetary restraint. NZ Herald business editor Liam Dann explained that as the economy goes further south and diverges from Treasury forecasts, the gap in the Crown accounts gro...

It doesn’t really matter whether it's a $20 billion hole or not. It might be $19.6 billion. The fact is, the Government has a hole, a massive fiscal hole that will, before the election, be fully exposed in what they call the PREFU. The scandal here is several-fold. The Government can, to a degree, hide behind Treasury. We asked at the time and the likes of Grant Robertson said they had no choice b...

GDT results have taken a sharp dive - down 4.3 per cent. Whole milk powder - which more or less dictates Fonterra's farmgate milk price - is down 8 per cent. It's all painting a fairly bleak outlook for farmers.. Wayne Langford, Federated Farmers National president, joined Early Edition to discuss the impact of the figures. LISTEN ABOVE   See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We don't know how bad the Government's books are, but there are signs things are worse than previously thought. National is calling on Finance Minister Grant Robertson to be up-front about the state of the books. Robertson has confirmed he's called in Crown chief executives for a meeting about financial restraint. But Infometrics Principal Economist Brad Olsen told Francesca Rudkin the Finance Min...

Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown says his bold makeover plan for the waterfront will be made in one form or another. He wants a development with an open-air seawater pool, aquaculture, an exhibition centre and an amphitheatre on the water. There's no budget or suggestion for exactly how much it will cost. Brown told Mike Hosking he wants to get more money out of the port, a process he says was started u...

A dispute has risen between the Government and Opposition over the state of Crown finances. Finance Minister Grant Robertson has told Newstalk ZB he called in public service chiefs for a meeting about financial restraint, but he rejects claims of a large shortfall in tax revenue. He says specific numbers won't be available until Treasury releases its Pre-Election Financial Update. Act Leader David...

Two major players in the tech world are reporting strong results this US earnings season. Meta and Alphabet are seeing digital advertising revenue bounce back from the doldrums of of late 2022 and early 2023. Milford Asset Management's Felix Fok says advertising spending is sensitive to economic conditions, and Alphabet and Meta are performing better than predicted. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com...

A slighter higher rise to the unemployment rate than expected. Stats NZ figures show it reached 3.6 percent for the three months to June. That's up point-two percent, on the preceding quarter. Most economists were predicting a point-one increase. Herald Business Editor at Large, Liam Dann, told Kerre Woodham it means there's more tension in the labour market. He says it's been seen through more pe...

A senior cabinet minister is playing down the recent rise in retail crime. Latest Police figures show retail crime is on track to break records this year -- with 45,000 retail crimes were reported in the first four months of this year. Only about 1,000 arrests were made. National Party police spokesperson Mark Mitchell told Mike Hosking he believes the numbers. But Labour's Megan Woods says the nu...

One of the many mistakes made during the Covid days that I could never understand, is how it was that the wage subsidy was handed out with such astonishing abandon, with no real recourse should it not be needed. The Ministry of Social Development has released a list of the top ten companies that have voluntarily paid back the money they got. It totals about 25 percent of all the money handed out,...

Today we will get the last unemployment figure before the election. Unemployment is currently sitting at 3.4 percent and most are only expecting a very slight shift to 3.5 percent. Chief Economist at ASB Nick Tuffley joined Mike Hosking to give his prediction. LISTEN ABOVE   See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

You may remember in 2021 National were initially against establishing a fiscal costing unit. But as soon as Nicola Willis stepped into her role of National's Finance spokesperson she contacted the Finance Minister to give National's support of the Independent Costing Authority. And despite claims of a fiscal hole in National's election policies, Grant Robertson has not acted on creating the unit....

Unemployment figures are out today - and it's the last data set before the election. It's currently sitting at 3.4 percent and no-one is expecting much change to that. Sharon Zollner is ANZ's Chief Economist and she joined Kate Hawkesby ahead of the figure's release. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

As retail crime continues to surge, most offenders appear to be getting away scot-free. Latest Police figures released to the Dairy and Business Owners Group show a record 125,000 retail crime offences were reported last year - a number likely to be surpassed this year. Only about 2.3 percent of those reports are resulting in arrests. Dairy and Business Owners Group Chair Sunny Kaushal told Mike H...