Business

Workers heading into the Winstone Pulp International meeting after the closure of two of its mills. Photo: RNZ / Alexa Cook A community leader says the closure of two Central North Island mills will be "catastrophic" for local towns. Hundreds of people are set to lose their jobs after one of the Central North Island's biggest employers announced it will close down two of its mills - for good. In recent weeks, Winstone Pulp International had been meeting with energy company Mercury and government ministers to find a way to keep the Karioi and Tangiwai mills open. But the company made the call on Tuesday afternoon to close its two mills, blaming unsustainable spot energy prices. Mercury previously denied it was responsible for the closures, saying the prices were similar to those charged ...

Photo: 123rf Struggling to find your favourite chilled orange juice? You're not the only one. A combination of lower yields on the East Coast due to Cyclone Gabrielle damage and smaller yields from Brazil, the world's largest orange grower, have left supermarket chiller shelves bare of orange juice. Brazilian orchards have been hit by drought and disease and yields are down by at least a third. In July, industry group Citrus New Zealand said it didn't anticipate New Zealand's orange juice supplies would be impacted by the shortage of oranges from Brazil. But throughout August, supermarket chillers were left empty as local producers run dry of OJ. Distributor Better Drinks Company said its Charlie's brand orange juice has been affected by the global shortage, prompting inquiries from the ...

Local Government Funding Agency's long term rating is steady despite downgrades to councils including Wellington and Hamilton City. Photo: Supplied/ Wellington City Council Falling credit ratings for councils has had no impact on the Local Government Funding Agency's capacity to borrow or lend money, the agency said. S&P Global Ratings has confirmed the agency's ratings are stable because of its dominant market position as a source of financing for councils. It kept the fund's long-term ratings at AA+ and raised its standalone credit profile, which excludes any support from central government, from AA- to AA+. But S&P has downgraded some councils, including Wellington and Hamilton City councils, because of weak financial positions and rising debt. LGFA is a 'super borrower', rai...

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...

Wairoa's typical first-home repayment is only 79 percent of the cost of a median rental. File photo. Photo: Pool / NZME Buying a house is about twice as expensive as renting in New Zealand as a whole, but there are still places where it is cheaper to own your home than rent it, new data shows. Infometrics chief forecaster Gareth Kiernan has run the numbers on how the average rent around the country compares to the cost of buying a first home, based on a median-priced house with a 20 percent deposit over a 30-year term, and a one-year fixed home loan rate. That data shows that in areas such as Wairoa, Kawerau, Ruapehu, Buller and Tararua, it is cheaper to service a mortgage than to pay typical rent. Wairoa's typical first-home repayment is only 79 percent of the cost of a median rental, ...

The value of Turner's investment in My Auto Shop was not disclosed. Photo: RNZ / Nate McKinnon Car dealer Turners has filled a gap in its after-sales product line-up with a deal to buy half of digital vehicle repair platform My Auto Shop. The value of the investment was not disclosed, but involved TradeMe and the My Auto Shop founders selling down part of their stakes, as well as a capital injection by Turners. "Vehicle servicing and repairs is a $3-billion business in NZ and has been a gap in the Turners offering," Turners chief executive Todd Hunter said. "The investment was a great opportunity for Turners to broaden its relationship with customers." My Auto Shop was a vehicle repair platform with more than 300 Motor Trade Association-approved repairers as well as a mobile repair offe...