Category: Business

Source: Radio New Zealand

New Zealand’s largest exporter Fisher & Paykel Healthcare has beaten expectations with a 39 percent increase in first-half net profit with revenue up 14 percent.

The respiratory appliance manufacturer’s first-half net profit for the period ended September was $213 million, with record revenue of $1.09 billion.

“This is a strong result against the backdrop of robust growth in the first half of last year,” managing director Lewis Gradon said.

“We saw broad-based strength across the Hospital consumables portfolio during a period of lower seasonal respiratory hospitalisations, and in Homecare, our latest range of masks for treating obstructive sleep apnea has performed well.”

Key numbers for the six months ended September compared with a year ago:

• Net profit $213m vs $153.2m
• Revenue $1.09b $951.2m
• Hospital operating profit $692.2m vs $591.4m
• Homecare operating profit $359.9 m vs $359.4m
• Operating margin 26.3% vs 22.9%
• Interim dividend 19 cents per share vs 18.5 cps

Gradon said efficiency gains contributed to an improved gross margin despite the recent impact of US tariffs on Hospital products sourced from New Zealand.

Looking ahead

The company also lifted its full year revenue and profit guidance by $20m.

The consensus for full year revenue was in a range of $2.15b to $2.25b, with net profit of $436m, which was near the top of its guidance range of $390m and $440m.

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

Almost 20 percent of Auckland homeowners are selling their properties for a loss.

Cotality has released its latest Pain and Gain report, which shows the number of properties being sold for a gain or loss around the country.

It reveals that in the third quarter of this year, 87.8 percent of properties nationwide were sold for more than the sellers had previously paid for them.

That is down from 89.4 percent the previous quarter and is the largest percentage making a loss since 2013.

In Auckland, 18.2 percent of owner-occupier sellers are making a loss, and 22.8 percent of investors.

It is the highest percentage of losses among the main centres. In other areas, South Wairarapa had 32 percent making a loss in the quarter and Masterton 18.8 percent.

The data does not include the costs of sale, including real estate commission, so the number making losses is likely to be higher.

In Wellington, 13.4 percent of owner-occupiers and 20.9 percent of investors made a loss.

Cotality chief property economist Kelvin Davidson said the data was consistent with prices still being well off their peaks in many areas, and buyers having most of the pricing power.

“Both Auckland and Wellington went through very strong growth during the boom period, so more recent buyers paid top prices and are now more vulnerable. Auckland’s larger pool of apartments also contributes to its higher loss rate, although that reflects long-run performance rather than short-term weakness,” he said.

The national median resale gain in the third quarter was $270,000, down from the late-2021 peak of $440,000 but still higher than anything recorded before late 2020. The median loss was $50,000, slightly below that of the second quarter.

Davidson said the difference was how long people had held a property before they sold it.

The median length of time sellers had owned a property that sold for a gain was 9.5 years, compared to just under four years for those making a loss.

“The resale performance of property is not weak in an absolute sense, but the figures highlight the role of time in the market. Longer ownership provides a much greater likelihood of securing a capital gain.

“Three-and-a-bit years ago places you [were] at a point in the cycle when prices were extremely high and mortgage rates were already rising. Anyone who bought then and has since faced a change in circumstances is more exposed to selling at a lower price than expected.”

Standalone houses were less likely to sell at a loss than apartments.

They had a loss rate of 11.4 percent compared to 36.2 percent of apartments.

Queenstown Lakes was a standout in the data, with only 2.4 percent of sellers making a loss and a median gain of $486,000.

Davidson said while the data was weaker, it was not really weak. “If you look at the median gain of $270,000 most people would say that’s still pretty substantial. It is weaker than it’s been for quite some time but it’s not a complete blowout either. If you go back to the GFC around 2007, 2008, the share of resales made for a profit fell from pretty much 100 percent to close to 80 percent in about two years. This time it’s fallen from about 100 percent to about 90 percent in about four years. It’s been more of a slow burn.”

He said more people have been able to stretch out their mortgages to save cash. “It’s always going to be a bit lagged because if you think things have turned around …hold period is a big factor. Even if values have turned around in the past couple of months they are still 17 percent below where they were at the peak. Anybody who bought four years ago even if they have seen their property value tick up in the last few months there is still a likelihood of making a loss because they purchased at the peak of the market.”

He said anyone who bought at the peak might be in a difficult position for a few more years yet. “If you think we might get 4 percent or 5 percent growth maybe per year in the next three or four year the cycle itself could well be seven or eight years long. If you bought in 2021, perhaps the early months of 2022, that in hindsight was a difficult period to have made a purchase if circumstances changed and you’ve had to sell again in a short period of time.”

First-home buyers might particularly feel the impact if they had not been through property cycles before. “It’s all very well for people to say ‘oh well don’t’ worry about it you’ll ride the cycle out and house prices will rise’ but it’s very different if you’re in those shoes and you paid a price that was top dollar in 2021 and you’re still sitting on a paper loss four years later.”

The share of loss-making resales is expected to remain elevated in the near term, given the subdued market backdrop with outcomes to hinge on values, household sentiment and the volume of stock for sale.

“Vendors may need to meet the market, but gains will remain substantial for those who have held for a long period. Most owner-occupiers won’t see a cash windfall, as equity generally rolls straight into the next purchase unless they’re downsizing or moving to a cheaper location.”

There are early signs that rising sales volumes are reducing available stock, and the outlook for 2026 points to price growth supported by lower mortgage rates and a gradually strengthening economy.

“Property resellers may fare better in 2026, although a rapid turnaround looks unlikely,” Davidson said.

“Regions with strong affordability or tight supply, such as Queenstown Lakes and parts of the lower South Island, remain best placed to hold their ground.”

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

Falling interest rates are driving savers to look for other ways to get a better return on their money – but there’s a warning that they should understand the risks they are taking.

The Reserve Bank is expected to cut the official cash rate on Wednesday, which is good news for home loan borrowers but not so good for savers.

Households have $80.5 billion in savings accounts and $144b in term deposits. But from interest rate peaks, one-year term deposits have fallen from offering more than 6 percent to 3.5 percent.

Two-year rates have fallen from 5.75 percent to about 3.5 percent. Savings account rates have fallen from an average of more than 4.5 percent for conditional saving accounts including bonuses, according to the Reserve Bank, to less than 2 percent.

Unconditional savings account rates are now offering less than 1.5 percent on average – and much less in some cases.

Ana-Marie Lockyer, chief executive of Pie Funds, said her organisation was seeing increased interest from investors wondering what might give them a better return.

“With term-deposit rates falling in real terms, many investors are recognising that once inflation is taken into account, they’re effectively going backwards. That’s prompting some to look beyond traditional cash and term deposits in search of better long-term outcomes.

“At the same time, any move out of cash needs to be made carefully. Cash and conservative funds – or even other investments – each carry different levels of risk and are suited to different investment horizons. The key is ensuring investors are making decisions aligned with their goals, timeframes, and appetite for risk – not just reacting to the interest-rate environment. Our role is to help people navigate those choices so they can stay positioned for long-term financial wellbeing.”

MAS chief executive Jo McCauley said cash funds could be an option.

“Unlike term deposits, which lock money away and may penalise early withdrawals, a managed cash fund provides members with flexibility, potential for higher returns, and low risk – making them an attractive alternative for savers.”

She said there had been a 35 percent increase in new cash fund investments over the past six months.

Dean Anderson, founder of Kernel, said while term deposit balances were still near record highs, the growth had clearly stabilised. He said as people rolled off fixed rates they might wonder what to do.

“What you tend to find is term deposits, because they are locked up they tend to have a bit of a lag and then people tend to roll them into something else… what you see first is people pulling out of on-call savings accounts because they are more accessible and interest rates are falling.”

He said people who were reliant on interest income would need to look at other options. “If you are looking at rates that are 3 percent and then you take out tax and inflation you’re probably not getting a return that is going to meet your income needs.”

But he said there was no easy solution for investors. “We’ve got a housing market that’s flattened down, you’ve got a lot of media headlines that are talking about peaks in the share market and they’re probably thinking ‘where do I put my money?’ which may be why there is still this lag in term deposits coming down or savings because people are in that paralysis state and don’t know what else to do.”

He said people might “bury their heads in the sand” through Christmas and then think about it in the new year,

“I think the key call out here is, if they’re feeling concerned or it’s a bigger balance, financial advice is really key to help with this process.

“I think you’ve got to be cautious that they don’t just sort of jump on something as a FOMO (fear of missing out) because they’ve, you know, seen a great headline or past performance.”

Fisher Funds general manager of managed funds Robyn Conway said she was seeing a lot of people wanting to have conversations about managed funds and whether they were a suitable option.

“But term deposits as a comparison to managed funds are quite different in terms of how they operate.

“It is important that if someone is invested in a term deposit that they do speak to an adviser and ensure that a managed fund is right for them.

“Typically with a managed fund you’ll be investing for a certain period of time in order to reach the goals that you’re after from an investment perspective. And because they’re invested in share markets you do have to be aware of market volatility and there is a higher risk with managed funds as opposed to a term deposit which is more stable and people like that stability. If they are after certainty and a much shorter time frame for an investment, then a term deposit might be suitable but in saying that depending on what their goals are and what they are looking to achieve within a certain time period then a managed fund might be a good option to consider.”

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

• Reserve Bank to deliver a 25 basis point cut to 2.25 percent
• Attention on how wide the RBNZ leaves the door open for more if needed
• Economy performing largely as forecast in August
• Last appearance of short term governor Christian Hawkesby
• New governor Anna Bremen starts on 1 December

The Reserve Bank is set to deliver a 25-basis-point cut to the official cash rate (OCR) to a three-year low, but attention will be on the central bank’s commentary and forecasts and how wide it leaves the door open for a further rate cut next year if needed.

The RBNZ has taken barely a year to cut the OCR from 5.5 percent to 2.5 percent, as it has tried to stimulate an economy going backwards while looking to control a revival of inflation pressures, which have edged to the top of the RBNZ’s 1-3 percent target band.

So is it one more cut and then an end to the easing cycle – the so-called ‘one and done’ strategy?

“Our base case is that November will bring the last OCR cut, but the risk remains for further easing in 2026,” ASB chief economist Nick Tuffley said.

“The statement’s forecasts and commentary will leave the door wide open for further easing if it is needed. Doing so will keep a lid on wholesale interest rates.”

Tuffley said such an approach would give the RBNZ breathing space to assess the state of the economy, and the strength of emerging signs of growth.

To an extent the RBNZ has boxed itself into a rate cut this week after saying in its October statement it was open to further cuts “as required for inflation to settle sustainably near the 2 percent target mid-point-in the medium term”.

Turning the economic corner

Partial indicators over the past two months have pointed to the economy turning the corner after it effectively stalled in the first half of the year.

BNZ head of research Stephen Toplis said a key question was how much slack – the output gap – was in the economy.

“Where it gets interesting is what does the RBNZ think is happening to potential growth?

“Net migration is coming in lower than the bank had assumed. Coupled with anecdotal evidence of increasing job shortages, this suggests that potential growth might need revising down again.”

Current picks for growth in the three months ended September range between 0.3 percent and 0.6 percent.

The slack in the economy is one factor expected to keep downward pressure on inflation.

HSBC chief economist for Australia and New Zealand Paul Bloxham said there were modest signs of an uptick in growth.

“Timely indicators of the manufacturing sector have risen for the past four months, and business sentiment has improved. Electronic card spending figures, building consents, and hours worked have all risen recently.”

He expected the RBNZ monetary policy committee to take a “dovish” tone in its statement with a clear signal that a further cut is on the cards.

The degree of dovishness will show through in its OCR rate track, which the RBNZ has said is only a signal of where the rate might be in coming meetings.

New year, new governor

The coming decision will be the last for governor Christian Hawkesby, who was rushed into the job after the abrupt and messy departure of Adrian Orr, added to by the departure of the chair of the RBNZ board, Neil Quigley.

Hawkesby was a candidate for the permanent appointment, losing out to Anna Bremen from the Swedish central bank who starts on 1 December.

It is expected in time he will return to private investment markets.

Bremen made much in her appointment news conference about the transparency of decision making.

“Will things at the RBNZ ever be the same again? A new governor starts next month who is likely to bring about a greater focus on transparency of the decisions made by the Monetary Policy Committee. We’ll see in February – OCR cut or not, ” Tuffley 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

• Reserve Bank to deliver a 25 basis point cut to 2.25 percent
• Attention on how wide the RBNZ leaves the door open for more if needed
• Economy performing largely as forecast in August
• Last appearance of short term governor Christian Hawkesby
• New governor Anna Bremen starts on 1 December

The Reserve Bank is set to deliver a 25-basis-point cut to the official cash rate (OCR) to a three-year low, but attention will be on the central bank’s commentary and forecasts and how wide it leaves the door open for a further rate cut next year if needed.

The RBNZ has taken barely a year to cut the OCR from 5.5 percent to 2.5 percent, as it has tried to stimulate an economy going backwards while looking to control a revival of inflation pressures, which have edged to the top of the RBNZ’s 1-3 percent target band.

So is it one more cut and then an end to the easing cycle – the so-called ‘one and done’ strategy?

“Our base case is that November will bring the last OCR cut, but the risk remains for further easing in 2026,” ASB chief economist Nick Tuffley said.

“The statement’s forecasts and commentary will leave the door wide open for further easing if it is needed. Doing so will keep a lid on wholesale interest rates.”

Tuffley said such an approach would give the RBNZ breathing space to assess the state of the economy, and the strength of emerging signs of growth.

To an extent the RBNZ has boxed itself into a rate cut this week after saying in its October statement it was open to further cuts “as required for inflation to settle sustainably near the 2 percent target mid-point-in the medium term”.

Turning the economic corner

Partial indicators over the past two months have pointed to the economy turning the corner after it effectively stalled in the first half of the year.

BNZ head of research Stephen Toplis said a key question was how much slack – the output gap – was in the economy.

“Where it gets interesting is what does the RBNZ think is happening to potential growth?

“Net migration is coming in lower than the bank had assumed. Coupled with anecdotal evidence of increasing job shortages, this suggests that potential growth might need revising down again.”

Current picks for growth in the three months ended September range between 0.3 percent and 0.6 percent.

The slack in the economy is one factor expected to keep downward pressure on inflation.

HSBC chief economist for Australia and New Zealand Paul Bloxham said there were modest signs of an uptick in growth.

“Timely indicators of the manufacturing sector have risen for the past four months, and business sentiment has improved. Electronic card spending figures, building consents, and hours worked have all risen recently.”

He expected the RBNZ monetary policy committee to take a “dovish” tone in its statement with a clear signal that a further cut is on the cards.

The degree of dovishness will show through in its OCR rate track, which the RBNZ has said is only a signal of where the rate might be in coming meetings.

New year, new governor

The coming decision will be the last for governor Christian Hawkesby, who was rushed into the job after the abrupt and messy departure of Adrian Orr, added to by the departure of the chair of the RBNZ board, Neil Quigley.

Hawkesby was a candidate for the permanent appointment, losing out to Anna Bremen from the Swedish central bank who starts on 1 December.

It is expected in time he will return to private investment markets.

Bremen made much in her appointment news conference about the transparency of decision making.

“Will things at the RBNZ ever be the same again? A new governor starts next month who is likely to bring about a greater focus on transparency of the decisions made by the Monetary Policy Committee. We’ll see in February – OCR cut or not, ” Tuffley 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

Not even fast food giant McDonald’s New Zealand is immune to the rising cost of food, especially for key burger ingredient beef.

Around 90 percent of the fast food chain’s menu in its 170 restaurants across Aotearoa was sourced from local farms, and it spent $235 million on local produce in 2024, up from $218m in 2023 and $214m in 2022.

It exported more than $287m of local ingredients like beef, cheese and buns to its restaurants in export markets.

Aotearoa was now one of the chain’s top six countries supplying beef for its restaurants globally.

Last year, the American-owned subsidiary used 6000 tonnes of locally-sourced beef for sale domestically, and it exported nearly 30,000 tonnes of it, making up around 10 percent of New Zealand’s total beef exports.

McDonald’s New Zealand’s head of impact and communications Simon Kenny said globally the chain served 70 million people a day, using 2 percent of the world’s beef.

He said price swings locally could have a material impact on the operating costs of its restaurants.

“Like everyone’s seen in the supermarkets, beef’s been one of the biggest ones,” he said. “The beef we’re buying right now is over 20 percent more expensive than it was at the start of the year.”

He said that meant the patty that went into the cheeseburger was 10 cents more expensive than at the start of the year.

“On a product at that kind of cost, it’s a significant input cost that goes up. So yeah, we’re not immune to it.”

StatsNZ data showed food prices increased 4.7 percent in the year to October, and beef was a hotspot of the economy farmers were capitalising on.

Further data revealed meat exports hit $10 billion in the year to October last year, driven by sheepmeat and beef up $625m.

Processor ANZCO in Taranaki’s Waitara made around 500,000 patties a day from local meat supplies, he said.

But Kenny said beef was a commodity it had to buy on the open market.

“Ironically, because of the global demand for beef from other McDonald’s markets, and what we’ve seen this year with the increase in costs… because of those global dynamics, that does impact us domestically.”

He said price increases were considered very carefully, and assured that burger sizes had not changed, as they had global size specifications to stick to.

“McDonald’s is known for value,” Kenny said. “There’s a whole load of costs that we have to factor in to the business with our franchisees every year and then go, okay how do you manage margins but also keep giving customers good value?

“There’s a popular myth that the Big Mac got smaller, and we like to joke that probably your hands got bigger than they were when you were six years old in the ’80s or ’90s.”

He said labour costs for its 10,000 New Zealand staff had also increased.

The subsidiary’s profits saw a 43 percent fall on 2023, to $59,779,000 in 2024, according to company register documents.

The corporate reported it was “facing challenges” in meeting its ambitious scope 3 emissions reduction targets in the latest purpose and impact report.

It wanted to reduce its scope 3 forest, land and agricultural emissions in its value chain by 16 percent off its 2018 baseline of 62,836,186 metric tonnes of carbon dioxide to 52,782,392 megatonnes of carbon dioxide before the end of 2030. It hit 60,245,138 megatonnes in 2024.

It also wanted to maintain no deforestation across its primary deforestation-linked commodities.

But Kenny said New Zealand beef farmers were ahead of many global competitors in this space especially with traceability, even compared to Australia.

“Beef represents when you look at scope 3 emissions, by far the biggest single contributor to our global emissions profile is beef farming.”

He said it was about encouraging sustainable agriculture by ensuring there was best practice on farms, and emissions data and measurement were the first point of call in doing so.

“Actually, New Zealand’s in a really good place when it comes to how we produce beef – we just we have to measure it better and report back better.

“That then helps us report back to our global team and feed into those kind of metrics, versus any radical differences and changes to farming systems.”

Kenny said farmers could “tweak” their systems to improve their impact, like considering regenerative farming principles and other emissions reductions

“I think in the next five years it’s going to be a lot of those kind of tweaks to farming systems and what we already do really well in New Zealand.”

Nearly 50 years ago, in 1976, McDonald’s opened its first restaurant in New Zealand in Porirua.

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

Fire and Emergency (FENZ) has applied for independent facilitation to put an end to its long running dispute with the firefighters union.

It has been 16 months since the NZ Professional Firefighters Union (NZPFU) began pay talks with FENZ, in July 2024.

FENZ said the union’s most recent proposal was more than three times its offer and far beyond what it was willing to agree to.

“We’re asking the Employment Relations Authority to provide facilitation to help bring the parties together because of the protracted nature of bargaining and the impact on public safety from prolonged and repeated strike action,” deputy national commander Megan Stiffler said in a statement.

“There’s a gulf between us at the moment. Moving to facilitated bargaining is the next logical step to resolve the dispute and keep our communities safe.”

Stiffler said FENZ had approached bargaining in “good faith with the goal of reaching a fair, sustainable and reasonable settlement”, with its latest offer amounting to a 6.2 percent average increase over three years.

She said the average pay for a senior firefighter had cumulatively increased by 37 percent in the past 10 years.

“We want a fair outcome that recognises the incredible dedication and service of our people and delivers a modern and sustainable fire service,” Stiffler said.

“At the same time, approximately 95 percent of Fire and Emergency’s operations are funded by a levy on New Zealanders’ building, contents and vehicle insurance. With increasing insurance costs, we have to be mindful of cost-of-living pressures.”

A spokesperson for the NZPFU said the application for facilitation had been made in October but was initially adjourned so that another negotiation meeting could take place.

They said the Employment Relations Authority will make a decision later on Tuesday on whether to order facilitation after the most recent meeting.

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

Explainer – You can’t turn around with seeing a Black Friday advert this week. But where did it first come from?

The shopping sales event – officially taking place this Friday – is an American import that’s picked up speed among retailers since first migrating over here more than a decade ago. But why has it gained ground here?

Events labelled “Black Friday” sales have been going on all month long, as what was originally a single day has ramped up into a long-haul sales opportunity.

“Black Friday has become a really critical sales point in the retail calendar for retailers,” Retail NZ chief executive Carolyn Young said. “You know, you come out of winter and you’ve got new stock in store.”

Here’s some facts about Black Friday you can amuse your friends with as you wait in queues this week.

Where did Black Friday come from anyway?

The phrase “Black Friday” has been around for a long time, used at least as far back as the 1860s to refer to a stock market crash.

But it picked up a shopping link in the early 1960s when, according to many sources, shopping crowds and tourists for a holiday weekend sports match overwhelmed police in the US city of Philadelphia. The phrase took off, although there was an attempt to rebrand it as “Big Friday” by merchants who didn’t like the association with civil disorder.

By the 1980s, the term was pretty commonplace in America to describe big sales, and it’s expanded to include spinoffs like online-focused “Cyber Monday” as well.

In America, it comes the day after the major holiday Thanksgiving, which always falls on the fourth Thursday in November.

Thanksgiving is timed around the autumn harvest in the northern hemisphere and meant to be a day to celebrate blessings and family life, all orchestrated around big feasts of turkey, pumpkin pie and the like. While Thanksgiving is not a New Zealand holiday, some Americans living here do still mark it in their own ways.

Black Friday sales became a bit infamous for big queues and occasional viral brawls at stores in America, although those have largely faded away in recent years with the advent of online shopping.

So how did it end up in New Zealand?

We don’t do Thanksgiving, so why do we do Black Friday sales? Blame it on the almighty dollar.

“We are a low wage economy who love a bargain,” said Michael Lee, a professor of marketing at the University of Auckland.

It’s only in the last 10 to 15 years that Black Friday has had a regular spot in the New Zealand calendar.

Google Trends search data shows Black Friday searches first started to spike here around 2010, then began taking off like a rocket around 2017.

“Once retailers saw a bump in sales following Black Friday, they were quick to catch on and leverage it further,” Lee said. “Then things tend to self-perpetuate, like they often do in capitalism.”

“It’s the only four-day holiday in the American calendar, which is why it’s such a big piece in their retail calendar,” Young said.

“A lot of international trends do then flow down to New Zealand, much more so now especially with modern technology and communication. Everybody’s wanting to be able to get a part of that.”

Last year, payment provider data showed more than $175 million was spent at core retail merchants during Black Friday weekend.

While online shopping is big, it’s actually not a lot of Kiwis’ preferred way to shop, according to Retail NZ.

“In New Zealand, 85 percent of sales are made in store,” Young said. “So you know, everyone’s not going online to buy. They might go online and do the research and then after that they go into store to purchase.”

Is it really that big a deal for businesses?

Black Friday – and all the weeks of sales leading up to it – is now neck and neck with Boxing Day as the biggest sale period for retailers, although Boxing Day has the advantage as a single day.

“What we know from statistics from last year that for many stores, Black Friday either challenged or topped Boxing Day sales, which obviously in New Zealand’s environment is a really critical market,” Young said.

“It seems to help them at a relatively quiet time of year,” Lee said.

“It also makes sense that it would outstrip Boxing Day, since the majority of Kiwis still tend to do their Christmas shopping before Christmas, therefore might not have the funds to dive into a Boxing Day sale so soon after their Christmas expenditure.”

Retailers would obviously prefer not to see Kiwis swarming Temu and AliExpress for all their Black Friday details.

Young said buying from New Zealand stores helps the overall picture for the economy.

“If New Zealand consumers buy in New Zealand it’s going to help economic growth in New Zealand because the money will stay here. It creates jobs.”

Some companies have also pushed back against the overt commercialism of Black Friday and what’s being called excessive consumerism.

“Black Friday most definitely feeds into excessive consumption,” Lee said. “If Kiwis really want to support retailers I guess they would pay full price so that businesses could earn more profit, but who is really going to put a business’s bottom line before their own?”

What about the high cost of living? Will that hurt sales this year?

Given the talk all year long about the cost of living and economic worries, Young said retailers are “still a little nervous, to be honest”.

“When you look at the economic climate that we’ve been working in and how difficult trading has been, retailers are looking for reasons to get people in store to get that foot traffic to get people to buy.

“We all know that we’ve been feeling the pinch of prices at the grocery for a number of reasons.”

As for consumers, their confidence is still low, Young said.

“We haven’t gotten into that positive territory of consumer confidence and despite having ongoing cuts to the Official Cash Rate, consumers are still telling us that they are worried about job security.”

Unemployment remains high. A big marker of that is more than 60 percent of Retail NZ members are not hiring additional staff this year for Christmas.

“They’re just rolling up their sleeves and doing more,” Young said. “It’s really unusual.”

“We’re hoping that we will see that flux of people coming into stores.”

Why did it end up becoming “Black Friday month” for many businesses?

Unless you stay entirely away from the internet and media, you’ll have seen Black Friday ads as early as the last week of October. What was once considered a single day of big bargains now sprawls on for weeks.

Businesses are “now stuck in a promotions battle with every other retailer”, Lee said.

“You can absolutely get sales fatigue,” Young said. She said retailers should be careful not to overdo the hype and to deliver what they promise.

“Making sure that whatever it is you’re offering is a unique office compared to other times of the year. Black Friday is seen as a big marker and people are expecting to see significant discounts.”

“It’s critical to have trust and confidence in a retailer and in order to do that a retailer is going to need to make sure that they can back up the statements in their advertising. We know that the Consumer Guarantees Act and Fair Trading Act are there to support consumers so they they can make sure that the deals being offered by businesses are reputable.”

It also pays for smart shoppers to do a little legwork.

Consumer NZ has warned people to be careful not to be too swayed by “hype”.

Shoppers should “start looking online early about what are the products they’re after and what is the price now, and they’ll see what the price is when it goes on sale”, Young said. “Doing that online research is really critical.”

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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 union representing flight attendants warns there could be ongoing strike action after negotiations stalled.

Air New Zealand cabin crew will walk off the job on 8 December after failing to reach an agreement over pay and conditions.

The union has been negotiating for six months, its demands totalling in the millions.

If the strike goes ahead, the airline said it would support impacted customers, which includes rebooking and may include providing meals, refreshments and accommodation if required.

Air New Zealand chief executive Nikhil Ravishankar declined an interview with Morning Report, but told the NZ Herald the strike could affect somewhere between 10-15,000 customers.

“This next round of conversations are going to be critical. And as we get the finer details locked down, and if we do end up going down that path, the first people we’ll notify are the customers,” he told the news outlet on Monday.

An Air NZ crew member’s base pay sits between $58,000 and $85,000, but there were lots of non-base allowances that make up their pay as well, Ravishankar said.

The president of the Flight Attendants Association of NZ, Craig Featherby, told Morning Report strike action was a last resort after negotiations stalled over the past month.

Featherby said the airline is asking staff to give up conditions and they pay offer is just shy of living wage.

“Air NZ continue to invest in modernising it’s aircraft… it’s built new lounges, rolled out new designer uniforms and returning major shareholders… What we are asking them to do is invest in their people too. This is not hundreds of millions of dollars that we are asking for, this is more the millions of dollars of additional funding.”

He said ongoing strike action may occur but reassured customers there will be no strike action on the seven days leading up to Christmas.

The three unions representing Air NZ crew will meet with the senior executive team on Wednesday.

In a statement, Ravishankar said Air NZ remains committed to working with the unions to reach a fair and sustainable outcome.

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Source: Radio New Zealand

The jobs market may be stabilising with the growth in advertised jobs at the highest in nearly three years, although the number of job-seekers is rising as well.

The latest SEEK NZ employment report indicated the volume of ads rose 1 percent in October, which was the fourth consecutive monthly increase, and 7 percent higher on the year earlier.

SEEK country manager Rob Clark said it was the highest annual growth in job ads since November 2022, but the number of applicants per job also rose by 2 percent month-on-month, close to record highs.

“While we’re mindful that many Kiwis are still facing real challenges in finding work, this data does indicate that hiring activity has stabilised after many months of decline.”

Hawke’s Bay and Otago had the biggest increase in job advertisements, rising by 3 percent in October, while Gisborne was the worst performer, falling by 1 percent last month.

Auckland job vacancies rose by 1 percent in October, the first monthly increase in more than a year, indicating a broader, albeit modest recovery, Clark said.

“One encouraging sign is that this growth isn’t concentrated in just one or two areas – we’re seeing modest gains across most industries and in most regions around the country.”

“For candidates, this represents some encouraging movement in an otherwise extremely tough market. Technology roles remain in demand, with science and technology and ICT positions both up 15 percent annually.”

Monthly increases were recorded across most industries, the largest being sport and recreation rising by 4 percent, followed by education and training, legal, construction, and hospitality and tourism, all rising 3 percent.

Despite the gradual improvement in the number of job ads, the excess of applicants per job is driving job seekers to apply for jobs in Australia.

“New Zealand is the strongest source of non-Australian applicants for roles in Australia,” Clark said.

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