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picture id="4KPW3T6_Matahina_Power_Station_jpg" crop="16x10" layout="full"] Electricity generator Manawa Energy has cut its earnings guidance after a key customer defaulted on its payment terms with the company. Manawa said it acted as a wholesale intermediary for an unnamed electricity retailer which has not kept up with payments. It said as a result, Manawa would set money aside for potential bad debt in its full-year results for the year ending March 2025. It comes as wholesale electricity prices soared on the back of low hydro lake levels. Manawa expected underlying earnings for the year to be in the range of $95 million to $115m, compared to the previous $130m to $150m. It said about half of the change in guidance was because of the money set aside for potential bad debt. Manawa confi...

Businesses are expected to upskill existing staff rather than increase headcount. File photo. Photo: 123RF Rising unemployment is another symptom of the economic stress businesses are under, say employers and manufacturers. June quarter unemployment rose to 4.6 percent - from a revised 4.4 percent - in the first quarter of the year. EMA head of advocacy Alan McDonald said the increased rate was not a surprise and reflected the record high volume of calls to its advice line service. "The struggles facing Kiwi businesses, with the number of requests for help from our members in the areas of restructuring and redundancy skyrocketing this year," he said. "Instead of increasing headcount, we expect businesses to upskill their existing staff in the likes of health and safety and leadership co...

Southern Cross paid out $42 million in claims for cancer treatment in the 2023 year. File photo. Photo: 123RF The increase in the amount of chemotherapy being done by the private sector had been "exponential" in recent years, with New Zealand's largest health insurer paying tens of millions for cancer treatment every year. New Zealanders are increasingly turning to private healthcare to provide chemotherapy due to concerns about wait times in the public system. Medical oncologist and professor cancer medicine Professor Christopher Jackson said the growth has been "exponential". "There has been rapid growth in chemotherapy and radiation services [in the private sector]," he said. He said that was partly driven by the wait times in the public health system, and the availability of drugs t...

Apartments that made a loss were held for a median 4.2 years compared to 2.7 years across all sales that lost money. File photo. Photo: 123rf Auckland apartment owners are taking losses in increasing numbers, new data shows - even when they've owned their units for a while. Corelogic has released its latest Pain and Gain report, which shows the proportion of all properties being sold for more than they were bought for has dropped from 93.3 percent in the first quarter of this year to 92.1 percent in the second quarter. That is the lowest figure since the third quarter of 2015. Of apartments, 35 percent were sold for less than they were bought for, the highest proportion since 2012. In Auckland, 44 percent of apartment sales were for a loss. Corelogic chief property economist Kelvin Davi...

The unemployment rate lifted to 4.6 percent in June. File photo. Photo: 123RF New Zealand's unemployment rate is rising - and there is a warning that job loss could have a lasting impact on workers via "wage scarring". Data on Wednesday showed the unemployment rate lifted to 4.6 percent in June. While that was slightly less than economists had been expecting, it was the highest level in three years. ASB economists said it was likely that the rate would continue to rise to 5 percent by the end of the year and potentially higher next year. "There is the risk that the labour market could weaken significantly from here and this could cause longer-term economic damage if the Reserve Bank keeps as much pressure on the monetary policy brakes." Economist Shamubeel Eaqub said workers could lose ...