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Mainfreight said profits have improved since last year. Photo: RNZ / Samuel Rillstone Transport heavyweight Mainfreight says the first half of its financial year has beaten expectations with an 8.5 percent increase in revenue to $2.55 billion. However, underlying profit for the six months ended September was expected to be down 9.3 percent on the year earlier to $158.5 million. The investor update follows a big drop in Mainfreight's full-year profit for the year ended March, as global trade conditions returned to normal from the peak demand period during the Covid-19 pandemic. The company said the second half of the calendar year was better than 2023, with volumes and shipments up across all its divisions, and new customers having created opportunities for margin improvement. Geopolitic...

By Andrew Vonasch* of The cookies study was just one of ten experiments involving 4205 participants in the United States and Iran. Photo: AFP / Jean-Christophe Riou If you're offered a free cookie, you might say yes. But if you're paid to eat a free cookie, would your response be the same? In our [new research] https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/01461672241235687, twice as many people were willing to eat a cookie when they weren't offered payment compared with when they were. From a purely economic perspective, our findings reflect irrational decision making. Objectively, a cookie plus money is better than just a cookie. But people aren't purely economic. They're social animals with a tendency to look for hidden reasons behind other people's behaviours. In th...

The Financial Markets Authority has filed proceedings against eight firms for law breaches since 2018. File photo. Photo: RNZ / Alexander Robertson More banks and insurers could face court proceedings and possible penalties for misleading and overcharging customers. The Financial Markets Authority has filed proceedings against eight firms for law breaches since it increased scrutiny of the sector in 2018. On Monday, AA Insurance was hit with a $6.2m penalty - the largest yet - for failing to apply discounts and no claims bonuses. Penalties have also been issued against insurers Cigna, AIA, the Medical Assurance Society and Vero; and banks, ANZ and Kiwibank; and total $17.46m. FMA head of enforcement Margot Gatland said it was working on possible legal action against in several other cas...

The number of households containing only one person increased by almost 120,000 in 10 years. Photo: RNZ Many New Zealanders plan to downsize from big family homes when they reach retirement - but it sometimes proves harder than expected. It's an issue that has been highlighted by the Retirement Commission, which said there was evidence people found it difficult to downsize due to a lack of appropriate properties. It said there needed to be new ways to stimulate the supply of "affordable and accessible accommodation options for older people". The commission said three-bedroom family homes or newer multi-level terraced housing would not cater for the changing demands of an older population. Data in the long-term insights briefing from the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development shows th...

Economic conditions have remained chilly right across the country, Westpac says. File photo. Photo: Supplied / Elle McCammon Most of the country has been in the grip of an economic cold snap, but warmer conditions may be coming, according to a Westpac bank report. The roundup rates regional economies on a six temperature scale - between frosty and hot - but no region makes it out of the "cool" zone. "Economic conditions have remained chilly right across the country, with households and businesses in every region reporting ongoing challenges," Westpac senior economist Satish Ranchhod said. Four of the 11 regions surveyed, the top of the South Island and the West Coast, Bay of Plenty, and Northland rated frosty - the lowest. Five regions, Auckland, Wellington, the lower North Island, Cant...