Best of Business

Manufacturing and construction are showing signs of recovery. 

ANZ's latest Business Outlook survey finds confidence rose 19 points over the last month, to 56%. 

In terms of past activity, manufacturing was highest, while agriculture saw a marked fall and construction lifted. 

ASB acting chief economist Kim Mundy told Andrew Dickens the construction sector has been struggling for some time, so this is welcome news.  

She says it's good to see the rise in residential consents transfer into activity.  

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South Island business leaders want to be recognised as the engine room of New Zealand's economy. 

The eight chambers of commerce have launched a joint manifesto, representing around seven thousand businesses. 

It calls for policies to lift productivity, with a goal of increasing South Island GDP per capita to at least $130 thousand by 2035. 

Business Canterbury CEO Leeann Watson told Mike Hosking it shows there's great alignment across the South Island. 

She says if New Zealand wants stronger productivity, higher incomes, and greater resilience, backing the South Island is the smartest investment. 

It's been a big week for the tech sector, with Meta and Microsoft moving to post their earnings.

But it's sparked concerns about the future of AI, and whether or not another sector bubble is set to burst.

Sam Dickie from Fisher Funds explained further.

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Auckland's Watercare is taking a mixed approach to funding a $15.2 billion capital investment. 

This includes $4.3 billion for renewals, upgrades to prevent wastewater spills, and lifting the daily flow of drinking water from Waikato River to $300 million by 2033. 

Watercare CEO Jamie Sinclair says separating from Auckland Council means the utility will need to explore new funding streams to get this through.

"We've got to go find our own debt funding, which we've been pretty successful at, I'd have to say, over the last year or so." 

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Farming is powering strong small business sales growth.  

A Xero Small Business Insights report reveals an 8.6% year on year increase in sales in the June quarter. 

Agriculture saw a 16.3% increase, construction climbed 11%, and manufacturing rose 8.6% during the same time period.  

Country Manager Bridget Snelling told Mike Hosking it is a bit of a two-speed recovery, with retail only growing by 6.4%. 

She says there’s some ongoing uncertainty around fuel costs and geopolitical events which will continue to influence small businesses when it comes to hiring and investment decisions. 

Plus, Snellin...

ACC’s outgoing chief executive Megan Main has defended her record at the helm of the troubled Government insurer and insisted that a new progress report shows the agency is effecting a turnaround.

Main’s last day at the helm is Friday, and her five-year contract runs to November.

NZ Herald Wellington business editor explained further.

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The US Federal Reserve is set to meet soon, and it's unclear what investors and experts can expect this time round.

It's looking likely that rates will stay on hold, but the ongoing Middle East conflict has made the market cast doubts.

Milford Asset Management's Brendan Larsen explained further.

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FIFA has announced plans to sell the commercial rights to its tournaments, including the World Cup, to private investors.

This proposal has been dubbed controversial and sparked backlash from Uefa and some leading European clubs.

Former All White Fred de Jong says this isn't a good idea, and there's some 'worrying' aspects that could come from this.

"You give it to a third party who would have a non-controlling stake in that separate company - but still, they would have a lot of influence, and they would have shareholders who want to maximise...

Conversations about reintroducing maximum sustainable employment to the Reserve Bank's monetary policy mandate and inflation targeting could be back on the table, following recent comments from Winston Peters.

Peters had to let this issue go during the last round of coalition negotiations, but speculation indicates he's like to bring the issue up again the next time round. 

Infometrics Principal Economist Brad Olsen says there would be very little, if any, differences to the current state of the OCR if these changes were implemented. 

"The Reserve Bank is not dumb, they're not looking at th...

There are two ways to look at this oil and gas announcement today.

Aussie outfit EnZed Energy's been given the nod to go have a sniff around off the coast of Taranaki.

That's important because they're the first company to be given that right since the Ardern ban. But there's already talk online about the fact this was the only application. There was nobody else applying for this permit, and it's just to have a poke around.

Now, you would say this proves the point that there's not much interest and, therefore, why...

The Government is introducing new regulations to help poultry farmers navigate bird flu, and industry experts are welcoming the changes.

Operators with more than 100 birds will be required to create a farm biosecurity plan - setting out how they will prevent and manage the disease. 

Poultry Association head Fiona MacMillan says it's helpful for everyone to be on the same page about the outbreak.

"I think having a standard that's applied consistently across industry can only be a good thing."

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The rising cost of living is down to more than global uncertainty, according to one expert.

Stats NZ data shows costs for the average household jumped 3.2 percent annually to June, a more than four-year-high.

Petrol was the biggest contributor - skyrocketing more than 27 percent.

Independent economist Cameron Bagrie says shocks like US tariffs and its war with Iran play a role, but core inflation is still higher than before Covid.

"But there's a little bit more of a sticky persistent inflation - it's the obvious drivers like rates, it's your insurance...

Nicola Willis will like the inflation number that's come out. More importantly, she'll like the story that number is telling.

Remember, her target audience is the squeezed middle. This is the battleground. This is the fight for the soft centre at the election: Labour versus National. These are the voters both parties are targeting.

The Stats NZ figure for the year to the June quarter is 3.2 percent. Prices are up for the average Kiwi family. On the face of it, that doesn't sound like good news.

But for the roughly one-third of Kiwis...

Origin Energy has confirmed the full extent of how many Australians were impacted by the recent hacking scandal.

In an update to customers, the energy giant said 900,000 current and former customers had their data accessed.

Australian correspondent Murray Olds says the hackers got access to important information, including names, addresses, dates of birth, and payment histories.

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Auckland's Snowplanet has partnered with one of NZ’s leading commercial solar companies, Sunergise, to produce more snow for less energy.

The new system features 2,317 ground-mounted panels on the hillside adjacent to the main facility, in order to create 80 cubic metres of fresh snow every week to keep the experience going for skiers.

Snowplanet general manager Rojie Aguilar says the clean energy is a plus - and it will save the company power as well.

"It covers 30 percent of our overall power bill, because we're a 24-hour operation. So during the day, it co...

A digital marketing agency says more New Zealanders are turning to TikTok to decide where to eat and shop. 

A new Infometrics report shows the app supported almost 10 thousand local jobs last year and helped boost the local economy by an estimated $1.2 billion. 

It reveals more than 300 thousand New Zealand businesses are using the platform each month. 

Squid Group founder Laurence Carey told Andrew Dickens it's becoming a useful research tool. 

He says it's without a doubt the easiest way to find a restaurant to eat at or something to do. 

TikTok's proving to be a powerful tool for New Zealand businesses. 

A new Infometrics report shows the social media platform helped boost the local economy by an estimated $1.2 billion last year. 

It found more than 670 thousand New Zealanders are visiting restaurants and cafes or making other purchases after discovering them on TikTok. 

Infometrics Principal Economist Brad Olsen told Mike Hosking around 50% of businesses in New Zealand reckon they’re using TikTok in some way, shape, or form. 

Of that number, he says, around 15% don't do anything paid, instead just posting organic videos...

Queenstown's famous gondola and luge operator continues to reach new heights. 

Skyline Enterprises has reported revenue of $239.3 million, up 15%, while net profit more than doubled to $86.1 million in the year to March. 

International visitor numbers from its key markets have now surpassed pre-Covid 2019 levels. 

CEO Geoff McDonald told Mike Hosking the Iran conflict is influencing where people travel, and is helping New Zealand's shoulder season. 

He says there's a clear rise in the number of Americans coming through. 

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Kiwi furniture brand Mocka is preparing to open its first standalone physical store in New Zealand, nearly 20 years after it began operating.

Originally selling kids’ furniture online, the business’ range expanded to curated collections across key sectors, and it's set to open its first bricks-and-mortar store in Christchurch.

Mocka chief executive Catherine Williamson says the brand's not looking to compete with Ikea - and it'll do things the 'Mocka way'.

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Telecommunications company Spark has reorganised its operations into two divisions to reflect an increasing focus on core services.

The core telco and IT services will come under the direction of the Connectivity division, with the other division responsible for Digital Services.

Harbour Asset Management's Shane Solly explained further.

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Laurie Blyth, owner of the Frontrunner store, has told customers not to use the in-store sizing service, and then buy cheaper online.

Blyth has put up a sign outside the store saying staff will ask customers if they intend on shopping online before they fit them.

Consumer NZ chief executive Jon Duffy says this will be difficult to enforce as customers could just fib, but there's nothing wrong with this move.

"They also absolutely have the right to ask the question, and if someone says - yeah, I'm just using the sizing service y...

An infrastructure advocate says the introduction of new AI data centres requires careful consideration. 

The Green Party wants a one-year pause on new centres, while rules for the industry are developed.

It says the already consented facility in Southland is expected to use about 6% of the country's total electricity supply.

Infrastructure New Zealand Chief Executive Nick Leggett told Mike Hosking that the benefit to New Zealanders must have weight in any new consents.

He says the door to data centres should be open - but with adequate checks and balances. 

...

New Zealand businesses are selling like hot-cakes. 

ABC Business Sales' latest report shows there were 503 completed sales over the last 12 months, up 19 percent on the year before. 

The business broker says New Zealand is still in a seller's market with an average of 34 buyers per new business listing.

Managing Director Chris Small says they're sending out huge numbers of confidentiality agreements to people who want to look at the details behind businesses.

He says more than a 100 of these are signed, for the most popular businesses.

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Support for National's paid parental leave policy, from at least one business leader.

The party's promising to extend paid parental leave from the current 26 weeks,  to 30 weeks by 2029 if re-elected, with further increases possible if finances allow.

Parents would also have more flexibility to share, or take leave at the same time.

Business Canterbury CEO Leeann Watson told Andrew Dickens that most small businesses would already be paying for some additional cover regardless.

She says hiring someone for slightly longer, could make things easier, as it can be challenging finding someone f...

The AI is now breaking out of its containment. Should we be afraid?

Boy, it's almost like Hollywood predicted this! Our worst fears about AI have come true, with OpenAI saying its new ChatGPT model managed to connect to the internet and hack into another AI company's servers. It was meant to be contained, it was not meant be connected to the internet, but it found a way through. These new models are so good, they're finding vulnerabilities and exploiting them all on their own to achieve a goal.

JPMorgan Chase's CEO Jamie Diamond was...

It’s been yet another week of yet more unsettling news. The conflict in the Middle East appears to be escalating again. As of this morning, we face even higher tariffs in the U.S than under President Trump’s previous measure. But if there’s one piece of unsettling news I think we probably haven’t grappled with sufficiently, it’s the latest humbling episode with one of the world’s biggest AI companies.  

OpenAI admitted yesterday that one of its new models has autonomously broken free of its shackles, escaped from the walled-off environment where it was suppos...

New Zealand’s agriculture sector should be able to withstand the current El Niño weather pattern, although it may lead to increased farm costs, an agricultural economist says.

Earth Sciences New Zealand this month confirmed El Niño conditions have been reached the tropical Pacific and are expected to strongly influence New Zealand's weather. 

The Country's Jamie Mackay explained further.

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One of New Zealand's big power companies is throwing their support behind a firm planning to build a large data centre in Southland.

Mercury has invested $53 million for a 12.7 percent minority equity stake in Datagrid NZ.

Mercury CEO Stew Hamilton says the company's looking to invest in a new growth sector - and there's potential to make more investments like this down the track.

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Australia's unemployment rate stayed at 4.4 percent in June, according to the latest Labour Force data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

The rise in employment was driven by a 47,000-person rise in part-time work, pushing it to more than 4.6 million people, with full-time employment also rising up by 29,300 to over 10 million people.

Australian correspondent Murray Olds says the Reserve Bank is looking for unemployment figures to go higher in order to cool the economy down.

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Recent data has unveiled a silver lining in the latest June-quarter inflation figures.

Rents rose at their slowest rate, annually, in 25 years, according to Stats NZ.

The country’s stock of rents rose by 0.5 percent between the June 2025 and 2026 quarters, continuing the trend of softening increases that began towards the end of 2024.

NZ Herald Wellington business editor Jenee Tibshraeny explained further.

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It's been an interesting time for the tech sector, with many big companies reporting their results.

Tech stocks recently reversed some of the recent selloff last night - with the Nasdaq up 1.9 percent.

Milford Asset Management's Andrew Curtayne explained further.

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ChatGPT maker OpenAI said its artificial intelligence system hacked into another AI company on its own - and they're launching a full investigation.

AI startup Hugging Face said last week that it had detected an intrusion into its data processing systems that it suspected was caused by an AI agent acting on its own. 

Auckland University AI expert Dr Kerry McInerny says AI has been used to hack companies in the past, but this incident raises new concerns about cybersecurity. 

"My fear is that we focus a lot on the capacities of the ag...

A new trend has emerged, where people are ordering fake takeaways and filling online shopping carts knowing they'll never receive a thing. 

This viral trend is gaining popularity, with one platform, FoodNeverComes, claiming nearly 1 million 'cravings satisfied' to date.

Queensland University of Technology, Professor of Marketing and Consumer Behaviour, says this gives consumers a version of the online shopping experience in order to stave off boredom. 

"The research shows that we're more inclined to do online shopping...generally in the evenings. We've got home from work, we've had dinner, we sit down and go...

US President Donald Trump on Tuesday imposed 50 percent tariffs on most Canadian goods, and concerns have been raised about the economic implications.

The new tariffs would exclude energy products, potash, fish and critical minerals, but would cover goods that had previously been protected from import taxes by the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement.

US correspondent Dan Mitchinson says Canadian officials haven't said much, but there's speculation Canada could raise tariffs on their own goods. 

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The Consumers Price Index (CPI) has increased 4.1% in the 12 months to the June 2026 quarter, according to figures released by Stats NZ today.

As expected, the increase can be partially contributed to the US-Iran war as the largest upwards contributor to the annual inflation rate was petrol, up 27.5%.

Finance Minister Nicola Willis is labelling annual inflation hitting its highest level in more than two years a “Trump spike”.

Former Reserve Bank senior economist Michael Reddell told Andrew Dickens that economists don't tend to look at the headline numbers but they will be digging through the...

I have so many questions around the Government bailout of Golden Bay Cement, which is not in fact manufactured in Golden Bay, but in Northland.  

Fletcher owns the company and they said Golden Bay Cement operates New Zealand's only domestic cement manufacturing facility at Portland near Whangarei. It supplies nearly 60% of the cement used in New Zealand – about 95% of its output is sold domestically. Golden Bay Cement took a long hard look at the account books and participated in an independent assessment which confirmed that without support, rising costs —including carbon costs— would force the closure of the com...

Nicola Willis told us she did not take the decision lightly, and well, she might have said that. 

She's lucky it's only cost $60 million. We still don’t know the terms, but we need to. 

This is Golden Bay Cement, and the Government has come to their rescue. 

Without this help, allegedly, they would have closed. 

There is only one supplier in the country – this in and of itself would seem to be an issue. They produce 60% of what we use. 

Is the other 40% cheaper? And what of the climate m...

Electricity and money go hand-in-hand. Every house needs power, and everything costs money. 

So how do you balance the two in the midst of a Cost of Living Crisis? And what should you keep an eye out for that might impact the number on your energy bills?

Harbour Asset Management Co-CEO Andrew Bascand & Harbour Asset Management Senior Manager Sue Walker join Tim Beveridge on Smart Money. 

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Trade Minister Todd McClay addressed media with his Swiss counterpart Helene Budliger Artieda at the Future of Investment and Trade (FIT) Partnership ministerial meeting in Auckland to announce trade partnership talks. 

Limited details are available as the talks are in the early stages.

"What we've agreed today is to start a formal trade investment dialogue," McClay told Heather du Plessis-Allan.

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Meat industry leaders are disappointed with the United States’ move to initiate a safeguard investigation into lamb imports from New Zealand and Australia.

The investigation, to be carried out by the US’s International Trade Commission, is expected to take up to six months to complete.

The Country's Jamie Mackay explained further.

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