Category: Business

Source: Radio New Zealand

A2 Milk has placed itself in a trading halt on the Australian stock market, with its share price falling 12 percent, following the release of Chinese data indicating a larger than expected drop in the number of new births.

A2 had previously indicated its forecast growth in infant formula sales to China would be supported by an annual growth rate in new births of between 8.5-9 million.

However, the number of new births in China fell 17 percent last year to just under 8m – the lowest in nearly 90 years.

Brokerage firm Forsyth Barr senior analyst Matt Montgomerie said the data was tracking well down on its forecast of 8.6m new births in 2026, with a low single-digit per annum decline thereafter.

“This now appears overly optimistic, particularly given this year’s number highlights that China’s proactive birth/fertility policies are having limited impact,” Montgomerie said.

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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

Source: Radio New Zealand

The head of one of New Zealand’s biggest mortgage broking firms has taken aim at the country’s biggest bank for its latest interest rate increase.

ANZ last week lifted its floating home loan rate by 0.1 percent.

That takes it to 5.79 percent.

Squirrel chief executive David Cunningham said the lift would mean an extra $12 million in profit for the bank each year.

He said the rate had previously been in a “no man’s land” between Kiwibank and the other major lenders – not the cheapest on offer, but not the most expensive either.

“Why have your floating rate lower than the bulk of your competitors? Just quietly put it up and go ‘we may as well just take a bit more profit’. It’s as simple as that.”

Cunningham said all other major influences on home loan rates had remained the same since ANZ last changed its floating home loan rate on 26 November, so it seemed that market conditions were the sole driver of the move.

He said it would also help to fund the bank’s 1.5 percent cashback offer for new home loan customers, which had been extremely popular. One Squirrel customer had received more than $30,000.

“For mortgage brokers it was sort of a gold rush, almost everyone that had the opportunity took it … even as mortgage advisers, where we see a lot happening, we were pretty gobsmacked when we saw ANZ come out with that.”

He said banks were now competing with cash back rather than better interest rates, which meant those who did not move missed out.

Customers should “play the game” when they could and move banks to earn cash back when it was available, he said.

A spokesperson for ANZ said it was committed to offering competitive home loan rates.

“Since the OCR began to fall in August 2024, we’ve lowered our floating rate by 2.95 percent, more than any of the other main banks.

“On Tuesday we announced a small change to our floating and flexi rates to align with market conditions.

“Ahead of the November OCR cut, our floating rate was already below most of the main banks, our new rate remains competitively positioned among the main banks in the market today.

“We’ll continue to review rates as global and local conditions evolve.”

Cunningham said the New Zealand banking system was hard to break into because the existing banks could adjust prices across their range to alter what profit they made.

“You’ve always got a bunch of products you can compete to protect your margin.

“Whereas if you’re a mono-line provider and the competition turns to fixed rate loans and you haven’t got a floating rate loan to subsidise it or a credit card or a personal loan at a high margin or cheap deposits to subsidise it… that’s why the system is so resilient against attackers.”

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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

Source: Radio New Zealand

Got questions? RNZ has a new podcast, No Stupid Questions, with Susan Edmunds.

We’d love to hear more of your questions about money and the economy. You can send through written questions, like these ones, but – even better – you can drop us a voice memo to our email questions@rnz.co.nz

I’ll be 65 this February. I have had a notification from IRD that I need to apply for New Zealand Superannuation. As I am continuing to work (at least for the next five years) as I have a mortgage to pay I’m wondering what this means for my tax rate? Should I claim it or wait until I’ve retired?

You can claim NZ Super, you don’t need to wait.

There is no income test or asset test on the pension, so anyone can claim it, no matter what they’re earning.

If you have a job, you might find that NZ Super needs to be taxed with a secondary tax rate – this doesn’t mean you pay more tax overall, it just reflects that the pension is coming in on top of your existing income and may be pushed into a higher tax bracket because of that. If you end up paying too much tax, you’ll get it back at the end of the tax year.

You won’t be worse off for having claimed NZ Super because New Zealand’s tax system means you only pay the higher rates of tax on the higher amounts earned – if your pension means your total annual income is now over $53,501 a year, for example, it’s only the bit over that threshold that is charged at 30 percent. The rest remains taxed as it was previously.

I am looking at retiring back in NZ at the end of the year so as to access the NZ superannuation as I turn 65 later this year. My question: If I sell my home in Australia will I be taxed in New Zealand on the sale? I have lived here for five years.

I asked Robyn Walker, a tax partner at Deloitte. She said you’ll need to determine whether you are a New Zealand tax resident.

People are counted as a tax resident when they have been in New Zealand more than 183 days in any 12-month period or have a permanent place to live here.

If you are, then you could be subject to the bright-line test to tax the capital gains you make on the sale of overseas property, but only if you’ve bought and sold your home within two years.

There might be taxes you’ll need to be prepared for in Australia, too.

I would like to know the rules for gifting money and the tax implications associated with it. Could you please answer this question for me or let me know where I could find the answer.

New Zealand hasn’t had a gift duty since 2011 so you won’t pay tax on gifts you make to family members or other people.

The main way that it can be a problem is if you’re gifting assets in the years before you apply for a rest home subsidy. If you gift more than the limit in the years before you apply, you can find that amount is included in the Government’s calculation of assets.

The Ministry of Social Development says: “We won’t count up to $8000 of assets you’ve gifted each year in the last five years (from when you apply for the subsidy). This is a total of $40,000 of any assets you and your partner (even if they’ve died) have gifted in the last five years.

“If your partner applies at the same time, this amount will double to $80,000 (but we won’t count $40,000 each if you apply at different times).”

Ther could also be situations where the gift of a house to a family member could trigger the bright-line test if you’ve only owned it for a short time. When you gift a house you are considered to have sold it for its market value even if there is no money moving.

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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

Source: Radio New Zealand

Queensgate Mall in Lower Hutt has assured shoppers closures to parts of the carpark are temporary, and caused by planned maintenance.

The closure of parts of the parking building exacerbated traffic jams on Thursday as crowds queued for the closing down sale at EB Games.

The closed areas have prompted questions and speculation online.

The mall contains, among other stores, an IMAX cinema, Farmers, the Warehouse, H&M, and Woolworths.

A spokesperson for the mall said in a statement the recent closures were “a precautionary measure to allow for planned maintenance works to be completed safely”.

“The affected areas are clearly marked, and while there is no risk to customers, colleagues or our retail partners, vehicle and pedestrian access has been restricted while these works are being completed,” they said.

They expected access to be reinstated next week, subject to progress on-site. The mall remained open and trading as usual, and other car parks remained available.

“We are aware there has been increased traffic driven by a combination of planned maintenance, weather conditions, and higher-than-usual customer demand, including the EB Games 50 percent sale, which has lifted visitation to the centre,” they said.

EB Games announced on Wednesday that it would be shutting all 38 stores around the country by 31 January, and videos on social media showed lines snaking around the mall on Thursday.

Hutt City Council told RNZ it had not been involved in decisions to close the carpark.

In 2018, the mall was partially closed for earthquake strengthening.

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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

Source: Radio New Zealand

• Manufacturing activity leaps 4.4 points to 56.1 – above 50 is expansion.
• Highest level of activity since December 2021.
• All five sub-indexes are in expansion – including employment.
• BNZ sees upside risks to Q4 GDP.

Manufacturing activity leapt higher in December to its best reading in four-years, reinforcing expectations of a continued economic recovery.

The BNZ-BusinessNZ Performance of Manufacturing Index (PMI) surged by 4.4 points to 56.1 – its best reading in four years.

It was the strongest manufacturing activity since December 2021, and comfortably above the long‑term survey average of 52.5.

A reading above 50 indicated the sector was expanding.

BusinessNZ’s director of advocacy Catherine Beard said it was a welcome way to finish 2025, noting that eight of the past 12 months showed some level of expansion.

“All five sub-index values were in expansion during December,” she said. “This was led by new orders (59.8), which was at its highest level of activity since July 2021.”

“Production (57.4) also showed a significant lift in activity, while employment (53.8) continued to recover after a number of months exhibiting declines during 2025.”

The proportion of positive comments about the future lifted to 57.1 percent, with seasonal Christmas demand, stronger export activity, and increased forward orders helping drive the gains.

BNZ senior economist Doug Steel described the result as a “ripsnorter”.

He said the latest figures reinforced BNZ’s view that the economic recovery actually began in the final months of the second quarter last year.

Steel noted that all the sub index readings were now running above average.

He said there was more to the economy than just one survey, but taken together with other recent data, the economic recovery was gathering momentum, and BNZ saw upside risks to its fourth quarter economic growth forecasts.

“It’s not out of the blue – we did expect some growth, but this is suggesting it’s coming through with a bit of gusto,” Steel said.

“At face value, it suggests upside risk to the positive view we already have for manufacturing and near-term GDP growth forecasts.”

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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

Source: Radio New Zealand

Food prices rose 4 percent over 2025, Stats NZ, says, and the price of a loaf of bread lifted almost 60 percent.

It has released the latest food price data, which shows that the annual rate of inflation slowed slightly in December, down from 4.4 percent in the 12 months to November.

Milk was up 15.8 percent over the year, to $4.92 per two litres for the cheapest option available. Beef steak was up 21.7 percent, and white bread up 58.3 percent.

Olive oil prices slumped, and were 23.4 percent lower in December than in March.

Simplicity chief economist Shamubeel Eaqub said the bread price increase had been happening for some time.

“Bread prices have been increasing for the last year, quite sharply.

“For a long time, bread was a loss leader for supermarkets. Because the cost of inputs, particularly wheat, has increased so much we’re now seeing the dam breaking and the price of bread increasing at the supermarket aisles.”

He said global wheat prices indicated there was probably still pressure. “It’s the broader story of the cost of basics and necessities have gone up a lot.”

Stats NZ spokesperson Nicola Growden said seasonal falls also helped to reduce the price of lettuce, cucumber and avocado.

For the month, soft drink prices were down 11.2 percent, lamb was down 27.4 percent, apples up 15.8 percent and onions up 38.2 percent.

The data also showed electricity and gas prices were up by 1.5 percent and 1.9 percent, respectively in the month to December.

Since December 2021, power prices had risen 27.3 percent and gas 56 percent.

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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

Source: Radio New Zealand

The tourism minister says she has a meeting planned with the mayor to discuss concerns about the Putāruru Blue Spring being trashed by tourists.

Earlier this week, Waikato Regional Council chairperson Warren Maher shared his concerns about the site, which he said was being trashed by tourists clogging composting toilets with rubbish, throwing coins in the spring and parking dangerously on the roadside.

Tourism Minister Louise Upston told Morning Report she visited the spring on Thursday, and in general, she had witnessed sensible behaviour.

She said businesses in the surrounding area were really positive about the influx of visitors spending money in the district.

Maher had suggested a share of the international visitor levy could go to councils to keep tourist spots clean.

Upston said there was funding available, including the International Visitor Levy, and some of the tourism funding was already spent on issues in hotspots – in fact, the majority of this financial year had been “on-demand”, she said.

Regarding Putāruru, she understood the South Waikato District Mayor was considering a park-and-ride option to reduce the impact of visitors, and there were other options available to raise funds to pay for upkeep.

“Access charging is always an option for councils, parking charges, to help offset some of the costs,” she said.

She said they needed to consider whether it would be best to take action during peak visitor periods, or if a more long-term solution was needed.

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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

Source: Radio New Zealand

Lake Taupo Holiday Resort is being overwhelmed by its own popularity, according to one camping enthusiast.

A post on the NZ Fun Adventures Facebook page about the resort led to hundreds of comments, many complaining of not being able to get in touch with the park to discuss bookings or query payments.

One was Sam Barnfield, who said he had a great vacation at Lake Taupo Holiday Park last year.

But months after the visit he was still struggling to get a refund he said he was owed and he now regretted the visit.

“When you try and ring Lake Taupo Holiday Resort they never answer their phones, they don’t respond to emails, they say one thing and it never happens and now we are $170 out of pocket because they still haven’t put the money back in our account,” he said.

The park had been developed, owned and run for more than 25 years by locals Lloyd and Trish Lusty.

Last October it was sold to Australian property group Hampshire Holiday Parks – which seemed to have had an impact on Barnfield’s experience.

“They are saying that due to the new management systems that they are slowly catching up on new processes and bits and pieces, but as you have seen in that thread on Facebook, I’m not the only one who’s been affected by this,” Barnfield said.

Amanda Schoeman also posted on the NZ Fun Adventures Facebook thread.

She had just booked to camp at the resort for her fourth stay in five years and said communicating with the park was harder this time.

“Previously you could pay $5 extra per night to have a designated stand assigned to you, but they don’t have that option [online] anymore, so it was quite a struggle to get through to them by telephone when we wanted to book,” she said.

Schoeman noticed they had offered a Boxing Day discount sale and thought perhaps that drove up the numbers trying to talk to the resort at an already busy time.

Despite the recent issues, she still recommended the resort.

“You will have an absolute blast of a time,” she said.

Jono Collins said after seeing the problems popping up online, he rang the resort. A message asked him to email which he did, and after 24 hours he received a call back.

“Obviously they are very keen to get on top of [things], they gave me a bit of insight into the staffing support they have in place, which is a huge amount, far more then I imagined,” he said.

Collins thought Lake Taupo Holiday Resort was probably one of the country’s busiest holiday parks, especially at this time of year.

He compared going to a campground in the Christmas/New Year’s period to going to a supermarket on Christmas Eve.

“You should be expecting checkouts to be busy, car parks to be full, no decent fruit left on the shelf, it’s a busy time, the amount of business will dramatically go up,” he said.

The busy season required adjusted expectations and patience, Collins said.

That did not help Barnfield though, who was still waiting for his refund.

“There’s not much more we can do … it’s just frustrating, we are at their mercy really,” he said.

RNZ asked Lake Taupo Holiday Resort for an interview to discuss how things had gone this summer and Barnfield’s case.

In a statement, park manager Sashah Macleod said they were in discussions directly with guests and would not be commenting.

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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

Source: Radio New Zealand

We are only half-way through the first month of the year and already the business closures are mounting.

EB Games will close its shops at the end of the month. Miniso and Yoyoso shops are in liquidation. Wellington’s Leuven Belgian Beer Café will close after 25 years in business.

Smaller centres are also affected. Whangārei’s Rodney Wayne said it was closing its doors, as was nearby Orrs Pharmacy, which has been open 80 years.

While economic improvement is on the horizon, there are warnings that the number of businesses closing could get worse before it gets better.

Economist Shamubeel Eaqub said the rate of closures often picked up at the start of a recovery.

“Particularly for some sectors, because the early part of a recovery is slow. There is a disappointment gap.”

He said that was seen in the Quarterly Survey of Business Opinion (QSBO).

“Businesses were saying ‘oh, next quarter things are going to be much better’. Things were better but not as much better as they had expected. So the disappointment gap is the most persistent it has ever been in the history of the QSBO.

“A lot of businesses would have gone out and hired people or they might have made investments or they might have brought in stock so they’ll be at the edge. There is still a bunch of businesses that will struggle through this early part of the recovery.”

Eaqub said quite often, it was because the business had been bleeding cash and that caught up with them.

“I think there’s still a spate of business closures to come.”

But he said that should start to ease towards the end of the year.

“I think everybody thinks everything turns on a dime. It doesn’t. Different parts of the economy move in different ways.”

Some retailers would be suffering after a weaker-than-expected Christmas period, he said.

“Also some industries like construction, when the early part of the recovery comes quite often businesses will go out and bid for jobs at prices that are unrealistic because they’re just grateful to have work and then they overcommit and face financial difficulty because the cost pressure is built really quickly in the construction industry.”

Carolyn Young, chief executive of Retail NZ, said many shops had not seen the lift in sales in the fourth quarter that they had been hanging on for.

“The fourth quarter is your biggest quarter of the year where you’re going to make your profit and we know that sales were down in December … businesses have used up most of their cash reserves so their ability to continue to stay alive will be compromised if they haven’t managed to cover off their sales in December at full price.

“Through December we saw a surprising number of businesses have items on sale before Christmas which is unusual.”

She said cost pressure had continued to rise and unless businesses had been able to negotiate things like rent reductions then there would be more liquidations.

“Two national businesses, 61 stores across the two businesses, have announced liquidations or closures in the first 10 days of the year… that shows how difficult it is for small and bigger businesses. We continue to see small businesses ring up about restructures.

“We’ve got an advice line and one of the most popular topics continues to be business change, restructure, business closure and then the sort of performance management things with staff which are often an indicator that businesses are really focusing on the bottom line and how do they get the performance out of staff to ensure they have optimal sales that they need.”

She said the government could do more to ensure its settings were business-friendly and encourage people to buy from New Zealand businesses rather than offshore.

“In the next few weeks we’ll start doing some work on what’s happening overseas – South Africa put a tax in place, I think they’ve done the same in France with the businesses like Temu and Shein and that levels the playing field up because New Zealand businesses have to comply with all the New Zealand legislation and offshore businesses don’t comply with anything.”

She said while businesses could not be propped up by government, there could be settings that were more supportive.

General election a factor

Keaton Pronk, an insolvency practitioner at McDonald Vague, which is handling the Yoyoso liquidation, said it would be a testing year for insolvency because of the looming election.

“What we have previously seen in an election year is that businesses will take a wait and see approach until it is clear which party or coalition of parties will be running the country for the next three years. What will be interesting is the approach the IRD takes over this period.

“On the latest available figures, the IRD tax debt to be collected remains around the $9 billion dollar mark, well above where it was sitting pre-Covid and no doubt the government would like to recover these funds to spend and are funding the IRD accordingly.

“With this playing out the IRD will continue to apply pressure to businesses that are in arrears or fall into arrears. Looking at the January winding up figures advertised so far we can see the IRD is already active in advertising their ongoing winding up proceedings.”

He said he had a number of inquires over Christmas and January that have turned into appointments by stakeholders.

“January is traditionally a hard month for businesses as they close their doors in December for the holidays and have little income but still need to cover fixed costs, holiday leave and face IRD obligations such as November GST due 15 January, PAYE due on 20 January, October to December FBT due on 20 January, provisional tax due on 15 January and for the larger employers more PAYE due on 5th of February, this a lot of cashflow businesses need to find at a slower time of year.

“2025 was back at the levels we saw in 2011, post 2009 GFC, and we are expecting to see corporate insolvency appointments continue at the elevated levels into the middle of the 2026.

“To date the appointments have been widespread hitting all industries and regions differently, so we are unable to point to one particular sector that is unaffected. Walk down any main street and you will see a number of for lease signs up.”

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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

Source: Radio New Zealand

Bluebridge says sailings are fully booked for vehicle space into February. It comes after a fault with the ramp on one of its Cook Strait ferries cancelled days of sailings during the busy holiday period.

Around 200 passengers aboard a night sailing on the Connemara last Thursday ended up being stranded on the docked boat for 15 hours following a problem with the winch that controls the stern door.

Sailings were cancelled through to Tuesday this week.

In an alert on its website, Bluebridge said it was currently experiencing very high demand.

“Our sailings are fully booked into February,” it said.

“All ferries are operating as normal, but our phone lines and inbox are extremely busy due to peak‑season volumes.”

Bluebridge said the fastest way to check availability or make a booking was online, or via their 0800 number.

“Any seats that become available will appear online first.”

Customers were advised that phone wait times could be longer than usual as Bluebridge were operating at peak capacity.

Bluebridge has been approached for comment.

Have you been affected by the high demand? Email iwitness@rnz.co.nz

In a statement earlier this week StraitNZ Bluebridge spokesperson Will Dady said the majority of people affected by the Connemara cancellations had been allocated to alternative sailings or chosen to travel by other means.

“We’d like to thank everyone for their patience and apologise again for the disruption caused. We’re working as quickly as possible to liaise with those impacted but it does take time,” Dady said.

“It’s the most difficult time of year to experience a mechanical issue such as this with already heavy demand for sailings but we want to reassure our passengers we’re doing our best to assist getting them across Cook Strait to their destination as quickly as possible,” he said.

When can you book a ferry?

RNZ went through Bluebridge’s website to see when a sailing could be booked.

For two passengers with a car, the first available sailing RNZ found was Friday 20 February at 2am from Wellington to Picton, with limited sailings through to the end of February.

In the reverse direction, there were limited sailings listed in January and most sailings appeared to be available from February.

RNZ also looked at availability on competitor Cook Strait ferry the Interislander.

For two people and a car there were limited sailings in the next week. Picton sailings were available through February while Wellington sailings were booked out until 23 February.

On both Interislander and Bluebridge, more sailings were available without a vehicle.

Interislander says it has limited space, had 100 percent reliability over holiday period

An Interislander spokesperson said its releasing vehicle capacity whenever possible to accommodate the high demand, including for the upcoming long weekends, but it warns space is likely to be very limited.

“While Interislander’s ships are fully booked for vehicle passengers departing Wellington until late February, there is some vehicle capacity departing Picton, and we have availability for foot passengers travelling both ways.”

The spokesperson said this was Interislander’s first peak season operating with two ships.

“Reliability was 100 percent throughout the busy festive period; most sailings were full, and our on-time performance was excellent. We’re proud to have delivered a safe, reliable service so far, helping tens of thousands of New Zealanders and visitors cross Cook Strait.”

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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand