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Workers heading into the Winstone Pulp International meeting after the closure of two of its mills. Photo: RNZ / Alexa Cook Hundreds are set to lose their jobs after one of the central North Island's biggest employers made the call to shut two of its mills. Winstone Pulp International chief executive Mike Ryan has confirmed the company will shut down because there were no options available to stay open. In a statement he blamed high wholesale power prices and low market prices for forestry products. "This was not a decision taken lightly. We gave due consideration to the feedback and alternatives put forward by staff and unions... "There were a number of good ideas put forward that would make incremental improvements to our operations, but not enough to offset the dual impacts of intern...

Photo: 123RF Some small businesses are limiting their sales to avoid having the deal with GST, one accounting platform says - but a GST expert warns that any threshold change could lower it, rather than increase it. When a business or sole trader has turnover of $60,000 a year, it is required to register for GST. That means it needs to apply the 15 percent tax to sales and return the GST to Inland Revenue. A recent survey by Hnry showed that 36 percent of respondents purposely kept their turnover below $60,000 to avoid it. More than 40 percent said they "definitely or probably" lost business when they increased prices by 15 percent. Wellington personal trainer Carl Rein had told Hnry he could not absorb GST or pass it on to clients. "Increasing my rates by that much would impact my earni...

Photo: RNZ / Dom Thomas A Wellington real estate salesperson who lost about $200,000 on a new build townhouse says a similar situation is being played out around the country. Mike Robbers of Lowe & Co Realty told clients last week that he and partner Socheata had signed a contract for a three-bedroom Wellington investment property which was not yet built in 2020. At the time, ASB was offering a 1.9 percent interest rate for new builds and the expected rent would cover repayments. "The market was booming, our incomes were solid and we expected that by the time it was built, our townhouse would be worth considerably more than what we agreed to pay for it." But by the time the house was built and ready for settlement, almost everything had changed. "Interest rates hadn't just doubled, t...

Photo: Paul Blomfield "Doing it hard." "Struggling." "An incredibly tough year." These were the words used to describe many people's experiences in 2024, but particularly that of those in the construction industry. Building and related trades have certainly been in the doldrums: work has dropped off, trades shops are nearly empty, builders are working on their own projects just to keep their employees busy, insolvencies are up and staff are being laid off. Many financial commentators say the key economic change that's needed to breathe life back into the sector is for interest rates to come down. On 14 August they did. The Official Cash Rate dropped a quarter of a percent, to 5.25. Three weeks later the Auckland Home Show kicked off its four-day extravaganza of house plans, spa pools, ...

Woolworth staff at 190 stores strike for two hours Tuesday. Photo: Supplied Woolworths supermarket staff are taking their first nationwide strike today because the company is resisting efforts to pay a living wage, their union says. Members from more than 190 stores will walk off the job from 12pm until 2pm Tuesday. First Union spokesperson Rudd Hughes said workers were also concerned about the rising levels of abuse directed at staff in stores. Woolworths has been approached for an updated comment on Tuesday. In August, Woolworths managing director Spencer Sonn told RNZ the supermarket already paid near the top of the market and offered a range of benefits to staff. "Our offer includes a 6.6 percent increase for our store team on average over two years, and we have a genuine focus on h...