Category: Business

Source: Radio New Zealand

Customers who feel they have not been given enough notice about their Sky TV contracts rolling over should ask for a refund or cancel, Consumer NZ says.

RNZ was contacted by a Sky TV customer who said he was upset with how his automatic renewal was handled.

He said he was an annual Sky Sport Now subscription holder, with annual rollover, autorenewal and auto payment clauses in the contract.

But he said he did not receive any notice of the automatic rollover this year. Last year, Sky TV had got in touch a month ahead of time.

He said the annual subscription price rose by 50 percent from a promotional $365 to $549.

Sky also offered an active promotion of $399 but would not apply it to him, he said.

“I emailed within two hours of our card being charged yesterday to see if they would offer us the promotion, but they have not and are sticking to charging us the full $549.

“I am particularly concerned regarding the price aspect here, and whether an annual rollover is fair when the price of the contract increases by 50 percent. We can’t find any notice of that price increase either.”

Sky TV has not yet responded to requests for comment. The $399 offer was a Black Friday deal.

On Facebook, other customers expressed similar concerns. One advised other users to log into their accounts and deactivate automatic renewal.

Consumer NZ said it thought any term that allowed a business to roll over a contract or subscription without adequate notice or the ability top cancel was likely to be a breach of the Fair Trading Act.

“An automatic renewal clause is less likely to raise concerns where a customer is provided with reasonable notice that the contract is about to renew, a reasonable period in which to stop the renewal, and the ability to exit the contract without penalty.

“If Sky TV did not provide adequate notice to the customer, we think it should either allow the customer to cancel their subscription or offer a refund of the difference in price.”

Sign up for Money with Susan Edmunds, a weekly newsletter covering all the things that affect how we make, spend and invest money.

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

Air New Zealand says there will no longer be strike action affecting long-haul or regional travellers, but disruptions to its domestic, Tasman and Pacific services are still possible.

Cabin crew announced last month they were planning to walk off the job for 24 hours after failing to reach an agreement with the airline over pay and conditions.

Air NZ said it had now reached agreements “in principle” with unions representing its regional turboprop and widebody jet cabin crew.

“As a result, the strike notices for these fleets have been withdrawn,” a spokesperson said.

“We are continuing to make progress with our narrowbody jet cabin crew agreements and will provide further updates as soon as we can.”

There were currently no changes to flights, the airline said.

“Our focus remains on reaching agreements that avoid disruption.”.

Unions have been negotiating with Air New Zealand since April.

The airline originally estimated strikes across all of its fleets could affect somewhere between 10-15,000 customers.

Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

Financial mentors are feeling overworked and overwhelmed by the deep economic pressures and complicated issues facing people struggling to repay debt.

Debt purchaser firm DebtManagers commissioned an independent report on the pressures faced by frontline financial mentors, who worked with an average of 40 clients a month, as part of the debt collection process.

“Everyday Kiwis are facing tremendous pressure, matched only by the pressure on the sector itself. Embarrassment and shame are major inhibitors to seeking help,” DebtManagers general manager Isaac Manase said.

“I think the reality of the economy is there’s always going to be difficult debt… but there’s got to be a better way to deal with those customers.”

The national survey of 151 practitioners indicated 46 percent felt they were overworked, with 83 percent working with clients with complex needs beyond financial issues, such as relationship problems, job loss and mental illness.

Nearly two thirds (65 percent) were seeing more indebted middle-income clients.

Ninety-one percent of practitioners considered face-to-face contact as the most effective channel for engaging on difficult debt issues, though only 13 percent felt the current funding model fully supported their work.

Nearly a third (31 percent) said funding hardly supported or did not support their work at all.

“We all have a role to play in lifting financial wellbeing, and we hope this eye-opening report is the start of a deeper, more meaningful conversation about the sector, regulations, policy settings, and how we all work together to achieve that,” Manase said.

“Reaching out early matters, but many people don’t engage because they feel ashamed, embarrassed, or whakamā, or simply overwhelmed.

“Compounding this is a concerning lack of awareness that free support is available through financial mentors.”

Code of conduct would help

He said an industry code of practice would be helpful.

“It’s actually in everyone’s interest to get these people back on their feet. And I think the challenge is, there’s a lot of corporates and government bodies that are all trying to do their bit to work out what’s best.

“But because we’re not consistent, it actually means that a customer who’s in difficult debt is working through different processes for different types of debt to different outcomes, and that actually adds to the stress and adds to the overwhelm and the shame, which is, which is kind of what’s highlighted in the report.”

He said early intervention was beneficial, though resources were stretched, particularly in rural and high-deprivation communities where there may only be small, part time teams available.

“And inconsistent processes can slow progress even when people are ready to engage,” Manase said, adding the report set out a number of recommendations for change, as follows.

Recommendations

• Build a consistent and compassionate sector.
• Establish clear national standards for conduct for government, creditors and collections.
• Strengthen the foundation of practice with better resourcing and more awareness.
• Align wider policy settings for financial stability to address the gap between income and real living costs.
• Human connection should be amplified, not replaced, by technology efficiencies.

Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

Mobile network company 2degrees says it has resolved an issue impacting customers connecting, receiving, or making calls on their mobile devices.

The mobile company’s website says the outage was first reported just after 4am on Thursday morning but was fixed later at about 10.40am.

2degrees said there was no impact to emergency service calling and that 111 calls continued to work during the outage.

It said it was sorry for the inconvenience.

Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

Dairy giant Fonterra has increased its first quarter profits to $278 million, $15m more than a year ago.

Key numbers for the quarter ended 31st October:

• Net profit $278m up $15m
• Forecast FY earnings unchanged at 45-65cps
• Midpoint milk price forecast $9.50 per kgMS
• Lactalis gains OIS approval to buy Mainland

Chief executive Miles Hurrell said earnings were in line with last year on the back of higher commodity prices, and first quarter profits were the equivalent of 17 cents per share.

“When excluding the costs associated with the Consumer divestment, Fonterra’s normalised earnings per share are 18 cents, up slightly on last year.”

“We maintain our full year earnings range for continuing operations of 45-65 cents per share,” Hurrell said.

Fonterra said it is making good progress implementing its strategy to become a global B2B (business to business) dairy provider after it completes the sale of its consumer Mainland Group.

“We are firmly focused on delivering the commitments we’ve made, not least our target to lift earnings back to FY25 levels by FY28, offsetting the impact of the divestment of Mainland Group,” Hurrell said.

Fonterra intended to invest $1 billion over the next three to four years in projects to generate operational efficiencies.

Mainland sale and capital return

Fonterra said the sale of its consumer brands remained on track and the French based buyer, Lactalis, had secured approvals from the Overseas Investment Office.

Separately, Fonterra said it was continuing to work through other regulatory approvals.

The co-operative expects the sale to close in the first half of 2026 after its farmer shareholders vote on the capital return in February.

Shareholders are set to receive $2 per share tax free from the sale, equivalent to $3.2b.

Last week Fonterra lowered its forecast farmgate milk price to between to between $9.00 and $10.00 a kilo of milk solids as increasing global milk production sent prices lower.

Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

Consumers are cutting back on holiday gift-giving and vacations as cost-of-living expenses take priority.

A survey of nearly 1100 Westpac customers indicates nearly three-quarters (73 percent) were either extremely or moderately concerned about the cost of living, which was little changed from last year.

“This year has been tough for many New Zealanders, with prices continuing to creep higher despite inflation coming off its highs,” Westpac NZ general manager of consumer banking & wealth Helen Ryder said.

Only 15 percent of those surveyed expected to spend more than last year, while 42 percent expected to spend less.

Nine-out-ten of those (90 percent) who planned to spend less were cutting back on non-essentials like dining-out, shopping and entertainment.

The survey indicates 39 percent of holiday travellers, who travelled last year or planned to travel this year, were also cutting back, while 46 percent of those who used holiday accommodation were also planning to spend less.

“Taking some action now to plan your spending can help avoid a cash crunch or debt hangover down the track,” Ryder said.

However, just 27 percent had a holiday budget, while 40 percent had not done any financial planning.

“To reduce financial stress, we recommend sitting down as a family and putting some time into planning out your summer spending and then sticking to your plan,” Ryder said.

Tips for holiday spending

• Use a budget calculator to know your limit and then stick to it.
• Budget for the essentials first, like food and travel, before allocating leftover spending money on items like gifts and decorations.
• Talk to friends and family before going gift shopping to discuss whether you are doing presents, and if so, whether you should set a price limit.
• Make a gift list and check it twice to avoid impulse buys.
• Think about grocery shopping earlier rather than later as often items get more expensive closer to Christmas.
• Before paying with credit, see if you can reduce costs or use your savings, to reduce the amount of debt that needs to be paid back in the new year.

Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

• Two-thirds surveyed happy at work
• Direct line managers more influential, but only 56 pct happy with their manager
• Purpose is main happiness driver along with responsibilities
• Job security more important for happiness, but fewer feel it
• Nearly a third dread going to work, higher among Gen-Z

Happiness in the workplace has held steady over the past year as employees appreciate the purpose of what they do and the responsibilities that go with it.

A new report from recruitment website Seek showed 64 percent were happy at work, unchanged from the year before, with 12 percent saying they were unhappy.

Other top reasons included people were happy where they worked, the people they worked with, and work-life balance, but that was tempered by concerns about job security and some dissatisfaction with direct line managers.

Seek country manager Rob Clark said the maintenance of happiness was encouraging even with tough economic times.

“What stands out is that even with these pressures, New Zealand workers remain remarkably resilient and clear about what matters most.”

However, he said a mixed bag of factors affected sentiment, with more than a third least happy with career progression, and less than half content with company commitment to ESG (environment, sustainability, governance), salary, stress and senior leadership.

Clark said employers and senior managers should be aware of the changing factors in workplace mood.

“Happier employees are more likely to be engaged and productive, and far less likely to be looking for another role. By focusing on wellbeing, purpose and supportive management, employers can make a meaningful difference to how people feel at work.”

Gen Z least happy

The least happy group at work was Generation Z (those born in the late 1990s and early 2000s) with 58 percent saying they were happy, up from 45 percent in the previous survey.

Notably 40 percent of Gen Z workers dreaded going to work, were more likely to feel burnt out and exhausted.

Clark said Gen Z workers were most likely to have just joined the workforce and be at the bottom of the employment ladder and pay scale.

But the survey showed satisfaction among them for ESG issues, recognition, and feeling listened to or valued.

“In many instances they’re probably being asked to go the extra mile because of the current tough conditions and there’s less resource to go around … and that cohort is most likely to feel the cost of living pressures.”

Clark said the survey did not go into whether economic good times made for happier workplaces, but he suspected it probably did.

“I would say yes, simply because if we’re seeing wage growth and people are getting paid more over time then there’s more resources, and roles and responsibilities they have are a little better, their work is more enjoyable and that drives happiness.”

Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

Finally, some good news for butter lovers: Global prices are falling.

But there remains some bad news: Any fall in the price you see at the supermarket is not likely to be as fast, or as large, as the increase you experienced when prices were on the way up.

The price of butter has been one of the big consumer issues of this year.

In July, the price of butter was up about 50 percent over a year.

In October, Stats NZ said the average price of a 500g block of butter was $8.50, up from $6.67 a year earlier and $4.83 in 2024.

But butter prices fell about 12 percent in the most recent global auction and are down a third from the peak.

Infometrics chief executive Brad Olsen said that meant that retail prices were likely to fall, “but likely not nearly as quickly as they went up”.

He said Stats NZ data already showed a flattening of prices. In August, 500g was $8.58.

“You’ve started to see the early effects of the price boost coming off. The difficulty is you’ll have a whole range of factors coming in there.”

He said some butter contracts would have been locked in when prices started to increase.

“They now need to get through that stock that was already in there … there will be a whole lot of contracting elements, I expect, that were in there. That’s often why you find it easier for prices to go up but not come down quite as quickly.”

Foodstuffs said that was the situation for its supermarkets. “Changes in global prices don’t flow through to the checkouts immediately. There is a lag because we lock in butter supply contracts on a quarterly basis. These help create certainty for suppliers and stability for customers, avoiding week-to-week price swings. As each contract rolls over, any shifts in commodity prices are then reflected in the prices customers see on shelf.

“The biggest part of the price customers pay at the checkout is the price we’re charged by suppliers and we work hard to buy well and run our business efficiently so we can keep prices as low as possible.”

He said New World and Pak’nSave in the North Island had been selling Pams butter at a loss for the last two-and-a-half years.

But he said there was also more dairy available now than previously, which should mean downward pressure on prices. “It’s not huge, but you are now seeing the largest increase in global dairy supply, at least from major exporters, in about three years. So there is a bit more of expansion coming through there.”

He said it would also be challenging for prices to fall because people had become accustomed to the higher price.

“So that does sort of set a bit of a new normal for what people are clearly willing to pay. I guess it depends on how much people have changed their consumption. Another data point that isn’t butter, but potentially gives you a bit of a view on it is what’s happened in the last couple of years to olive oil prices, which of course skyrocketed quite a bit.

“They’ve now started to pull back quite a bit as well, nowhere near back to what they were before the big spike, but they are definitely on the downward decline. That did seem to take quite a bit after you started to see olive oil future prices start to pull back for retail prices to then follow. And it does suggest sometimes some of the changes on the pullback side can take sort of up to six months to really start to show through just because of all of those contracts that are locked in and sort of pricing changes that will happen.”

A spokesperson for Woolworths said the global dairy trade auction was only one factor that went into the price of butter.

“We are also seeing the NZ dollar weaken versus the USD. This affects pricing as the GDT auctions are conducted in USD. These factors are reviewed quarterly by suppliers, therefore our retail price is set quarterly.

“We did see some global price relief on butter last month and this meant we could pass on lower prices to Kiwi customers across all major brand butter. We know it’s a tough time for Kiwi households and we’re working hard to keep butter prices as low as possible, for as long as possible.”

Sign up for Money with Susan Edmunds, a weekly newsletter covering all the things that affect how we make, spend and invest money.

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

Auckland and Wellington remain the parts of the country with prices furthest from their peak – but one property investor says one is looking more undervalued than the other at the moment.

Cotality has released its latest data, which shows a 0.1 percent lift in values for New Zealand in November.

The national median now sits at $806,551, which is 17.4 percent below the early 2022 peak and only 1.1 percent higher than June 2023’s trough.

But within that data, the picture is mixed.

Auckland is 22.9 percent below its peak, down 2.2 percent year-on-year and down 0.2 percent in the month.

Hamilton is down 11.4 percent from peak but up 0.3 percent year-on-year and 0.7 percent in the month.

Tauranga is down 15.2 percent from the peak and up 1.2 percent year-on-year.

Wellington is down 25.1 percent from the peak and down 1.8 percent over a year but up 0.1 percent for the month.

Christchurch is only 3.8 percent below its peak and up 2.6 percent over a year.

Dunedin is down 10.8 percent from its price peak and up 0.2 percent in a year.

“Property values across the country were patchy over May to August as households and firms remained in a cautious mood,” Cotality chief property economist Kelvin Davidson said.

“September and October brought a few signs of life for values, but November just eased off a little bit again Clearly, the falls in mortgage rates we’ve seen lately would point to a bit more upside for property values as we get into 2026, not least because a range of housing affordability measures have also improved back closer to their long-term averages. But the subdued November property value data suggests that this process continues to take a bit of time to get started.”

He said the number of houses for sale remained higher than normal for this time of year.

“Many buyers will still be feeling that they’re in the box-seat when it comes to price negotiations. At the same time, while the economy is showing some encouraging signs, the unemployment rate is still a concern and jobs growth is yet to kick into gear. On balance, the fundamentals seem to be moving towards growth in property values next year. But right now, we remain in a holding pattern.”

Davidson said if Auckland was removed from the national figures, there would have been increases in value in recent months.

“The flatness of the national figure is sort of an Auckland story – Auckland lagging behind everyone else.”

He said November was the eighth month in a row that Auckland’s property values had declined.

“That’s after a smaller, cumulative rise of 1.6 percent in the seven months to March this year. In other words, Tāmaki Makaurau continues to lag many other parts of the country, and this is weighing on the national median. Buyer caution and a relatively high supply of property are relevant factors here,” he said.

He said economic confidence in Auckland was a bit slower to improve.

“It doesn’t have the same lift from things like farming and agriculture, it’s more service-based so that’s going to be a bit of restraint on Auckland’s housing market.

“Then also the supply factor, there’s a decent pipeline of townhouses coming on to the Auckland market – listings are still in favour of buyers… I think these things help explain the slight lag in Auckland’s market. There just seems to be a bit of a malaise around Auckland at the moment. Will we see it come back? At some stage for sure. It’s the biggest economy, it’s where a lot of job creation comes from and I guess a lot of our economic growth really through parts of the cycle. It’ll come back but it does show you that supply and demand can play a role

“And we’ve seen Christchurch over the years has had a good rise in supply, and it’s kept a bit of a lid on housing affordability or house price growth. And we’re seeing the same in Auckland now.”

He said most other main centres were up more significantly, as well as many provincial markets. “We see continued growth in Invercargill and that next tier down of towns and cities.”

Property investment coach Steve Goodey said he thought Auckland as probably undervalued.

Many Auckland properties were selling with good rental yields, he said, and falling interest rates gave investors more room to buy.

“I’m not ready to start saying there’s FOMO in the market but there’s certainly a lot of upward pressure on some properties. Well presented stuff is moving and moving quite quickly.”

He said Wellington was different.

“It’s very depressed. There are heaps of listings and rents have been dropping, they’ve stopped dropping as hard but they’ve dropped quite some way. Wellington has an awful lot of problems at the moment, there are so many issues that aren’t being addressed, aren’t being fixed, it’s creating a lot of opportunity but anyone who bought in 2021 has massively overpaid and is probably stuck with that property.

“Wellington I don’t think has been overdeveloped, it’s just been abandoned to a degree. Tourism we’re not getting any more, immigration we’re not getting any more, students we’re not getting anymore. Property is available and it’s become a buyer and renter’s market.”

Investors had started to come back into the market in the capital, he said.

Sign up for Money with Susan Edmunds, a weekly newsletter covering all the things that affect how we make, spend and invest money

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

Investors who have to sell their cryptocurrency for a loss may be able to claim tax back from Inland Revenue (IRD).

IRD has made it clear that people who are trading cryptocurrency should pay tax on their gains.

In July last year IRD signalled it was honing in on people buying and selling crypto who were not declaring their income.

It had identified had 227,000 unique crypto asset users in New Zealand undertaking around 7 million transactions with a value of $7.8 billion.

Last week, accountant Tim Doyle, who specialises in cryptocurrency, told Checkpoint nearly a third of his clients had received letters from IRD calling in tax they owe.

But the value of cryptocurrencies can be very volatile. In the past year, Bitcoin hit a record high – then fell sharply. It is down about 16 percent over the past month.

Deloitte cryptocurrency expert Ian Fay said anyone who bought at the peak of the market and then had to sell could claim a loss in their tax return.

People were taxed on the proceeds minus the cost of the asset and if the cost was more than the sale proceeds, it would count as a loss. “If you bought a few months ago hoping to make a quick buck and need the money you might have to liquidate, and could have a loss.”

But he said it would only be people who sold their assets at a lower price than they paid for them that could claim the loss. People who had suffered a drop in the value of their portfolio but not liquidated might feel worse off but had not generated a loss for tax purposes.

People who bought a few years ago and sold today would pay tax on the proceeds, even if the gain was not as large as it might have been a few months ago.

Many crypto investors held their assets for a long time, he said, and were used to the swings in value. “It goes up, it comes down. It’s still a very volatile asset class.”

Fay said it was important to note that more people were investing in cryptocurrency funds, which were taxed differently. International exchange-traded cryptocurrency funds would usually be taxed under the foreign investment fund (FIF) rules, not as personal property.

Fay said Inland Revenue had dispelled a myth that people could hold on to their assets for a long time to avoid tax on capital gains. Because bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies did not offer income, it determined that people who bought them were doing so with the intention of selling them eventually, so the gains would usually be taxable.

He said some people might think their crypto trading was flying under the radar but Inland Revenue had increased access to data that would enable it to identify transactions.

Even transactions between different cryptocurrencies could generate gains that needed to be taxed, he said.

Sign up for Money with Susan Edmunds, a weekly newsletter covering all the things that affect how we make, spend and invest money.

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