Business

The amount saved in KiwiSaver schemes rose to $111.8b from $93.6b for the year ended March. File photo. Photo: 123RF KiwiSaver funds have grown at their fastest rate in four years, surging through the $100 billion mark, but with increases in those drawing down for retirement, buying houses, hardship and leaving the country. The Financial Markets Authority's (FMA) annual KiwiSaver report showed the amount saved in schemes rose to $111.8b from $93.6b for the year ended March, with investment returns just outstripping contributions in lifting the total. Key numbers for the year ended March 2024 compared to previous year: Total funds under management $111.8b vs $93.6b Total membership 3.33m vs 3.25m Average balance about $30,000 vs $28,778 Investment returns +$13.1b vs -$1.9b Total fees de...

Photo: RNZ / Lucy Xia Auckland shoppers and transiting travellers have continued to flock to the city's newest outlet mall - Mānawa Bay - despite traffic woes over the precincts' first weekend since opening. Thousands of shoppers visited the outlet - just three kilometres from Auckland Airport - causing long delays along the main highway to the airport on Saturday and Sunday. Around midday on Monday, the mall's 1400 car parks appeared to be nearly fully occupied, long queues remained outside a boutique chocolate store, and the food court was bustling with people. While some told RNZ that they picked a working day to avoid the traffic, others like Avi, who had popped in over his lunch break, said traffic was still slow coming off the nearest motorway exit. "Coming in, obviously there was ...

Christmas shopping in Wellington before the pandemic. Photo: RNZ / Rebekah Parsons-King The government caused Wellington's retail woes and forcing public service workers back to the office is not going to fix them, a union leader says. Public Service Minister Nicola Willis on Monday said she had directed department bosses to tighten up on working-from-home arrangements - that they should only be by agreement, not compromise performance, and departments and agencies must regularly report on the number and nature of agreements in place. Willis said "if the pendulum swings too far in favour of working from home, there are downsides" for CBD retailers, restaurants and cafes. A number of outlets have closed in recent times, and those still open reporting empty streets and fewer customers tha...

McDonald's says its main feedback from customers is how popular the promotion has been. Photo: 123rf A lack of transparency and questionable prize value might be turning some people off McDonald's Monopoly promotion, one marketing expert says. McDonald's has been running the Monopoly game for 10 years. It offers customers tickets when they buy certain items, which can win instant prizes or be saved for "collect to win" prizes. But some customers have complained that the prizes are not as generous as they first appear. For example, a Mixbook $20 voucher can't be used with any other discount on the photobook site, which is currently offering a sale of up to 50 percent off. Three months of membership to Amazon Prime, for which there are 400,000 prizes available, requires people not to alre...

Local eateries and takeaway businesses were bucking the trend, the Restaurant Association said, Photo: 123rf Takeaways and local eateries are bucking the downward trend as the cost of living crisis causes a big fall in revenue for restaurants. A report by the Restaurant Association revealed 76 percent of its members had worse or significantly worse profitability compared to the same period last year. The takeaway sector, however, showed a 4.2 percent increase in year-on-year sales during the second quarter of 2024. Other businesses to defy the odds were neighbournood eateries with 24 percent of respondents stating income was on par with or up on the previous year. Annual sales revenue of was $15.7 billion for the year ending March, a 5.8 percent increase on the previous year. The Associ...

Tower Insurance bulding at 45 Queen Street, Auckland Photo: RNZ / Dan Cook New Zealand insurance company Tower has renewed its reinsurance package with increased cover at lower cost for the coming year. The company said it had secured cover for all its major businesses for home, motor, boat and commercial for its New Zealand and Pacific customers at favourable rates. "Tower's focus on risk-based pricing combined with our dynamic rating ability helped us secure favourable terms for our FY25 (financial year) reinsurance," chief financial officer Paul Johnston said. "We've further strengthened relationships with global reinsurers, with several agreeing to new multi-year arrangements, which provides greater long-term certainty of reinsurance costs and catastrophe excesses." Reinsurance is t...

Fletcher Building chief executive Andrew Reding. Photo: Supplied Fletcher Building has announced it will raise $700 million to pay back debt and improve it's financial stability. The troubled building products and construction company is struggling with poor demand as house sales are down. It is looking to raise $282m from investment funds and $418m from current shareholders. It went into a trading halt on the stock exchange to do so. In addition to money raising Fletcher Building plans to cut around $180m in costs to better the books. Shares in the company were $2.40 each on Monday morning, a 13 percent discount from market close on Friday. Source link

Photo: AFP / JEAN-MARC BARRERE New Zealand's increasingly indebted local and regional governments (LRGs) have eroded the overall creditworthiness of the Asia-Pacific region. A report by S&P Global Ratings said Australia and New Zealand's higher inward migration rates, compared with other countries in Asia-Pacific, was adding pressure to infrastructure deficits. "LRGs in New Zealand also face the additional burden because of weaker operating accounts and substantial increases in capital expenditure, including national water reforms and disaster-related reconstruction efforts," it said. "This infrastructure push is resulting in higher debt levels and interest costs, which is weighing on the liquidity coverages of several LRGs. "This follows our revision of the trend of the New Zealand ...

Photo: 123rf.com If you have looked for a house recently, you might have been told: You cannot build them for what you can buy them for at the moment. While it is common for new builds to have a price premium over existing houses, in part because they are often built to higher specifications and should need less maintenance, the premium is higher than normal at the moment - whether you are buying from a developer or trying to build on bare land yourself. Using data from Trade Me and CoreLogic, RNZ estimated that it would cost about $1.5 million to build a house in Auckland with the median floor area of 154sqm, and on the median section size of 600sqm, at the median sale price of the city's bare land. This assumes a build cost of $4000 per sqm. The median asking price on Trade Me is $986,...

By Gianina Schwanecke Photo: Supplied A plentiful supply of fresh, cheap vegetables has presented a new challenge for asparagus growers. Asparagus growers have faced a tough couple of years driven largely by a mismatch in supply and demand - last year saw many growers selling their crop at giveaway prices and even offering extra incentives, like the chance to win travel vouchers worth thousands of dollars. Asparagus Growers Council chairperson Cam Lewis said growers were excited to start harvesting after nine months of no asparagus, but many were also nervous. "There's some very cheap green veggies out there at the moment," he said. "So it would be pretty naive for us to think asparagus is going to be able to be sold at a large premium [compared] to your broccolis and everything else....