Best of Business

The Government is introducing new regulations to help poultry farmers navigate bird flu, and industry experts are welcoming the changes. Operators with more than 100 birds will be required to create a farm biosecurity plan - setting out how they will prevent and manage the disease.  Poultry Association head Fiona MacMillan says it's helpful for everyone to be on the same page about the outbreak. "I think having a standard that's applied consistently across industry can only be a good thing." LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The rising cost of living is down to more than global uncertainty, according to one expert. Stats NZ data shows costs for the average household jumped 3.2 percent annually to June, a more than four-year-high. Petrol was the biggest contributor - skyrocketing more than 27 percent. Independent economist Cameron Bagrie says shocks like US tariffs and its war with Iran play a role, but core inflation is still higher than before Covid. "But there's a little bit more of a sticky persistent inflation - it's the obvious drivers like rates, it's your insurance, it's your energy bills, which the Reserve Bank can't control." LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Nicola Willis will like the inflation number that's come out. More importantly, she'll like the story that number is telling. Remember, her target audience is the squeezed middle. This is the battleground. This is the fight for the soft centre at the election: Labour versus National. These are the voters both parties are targeting. The Stats NZ figure for the year to the June quarter is 3.2 percent. Prices are up for the average Kiwi family. On the face of it, that doesn't sound like good news. But for the roughly one-third of Kiwis who own a home, aka the squeezed middle, the number is better than it could have been. That's because this figure is based on the Household Living-Costs Price Index, not the Consumers Price Index (CPI). CPI inflation is 4.1 percent. This measure is lower at 3.2 percent. Why? Because it takes into account the cost of mortgage interest payments. And the mortgage-interest story is a good one. On these numbers, mortgage interest payments are 15 percent cheaper. Just imagine how bad this figure could have been if interest rates hadn't fallen, or if the Reserve Bank hadn't had the headroom to cut rates. You can see where I'm going with this. If you're an average home-owning family with two kids in New Zealand, you know how important your mortgage is to your sense of financial wellbeing. The smaller it is, the better you feel. So Nicola Willis will see this number as positive for two reasons. First, she'll claim some credit for helping bring mortgage costs down by 15 percent. Even though that's largely the Reserve Bank's doing, she'll argue that the Government created the conditions that made it possible. Second, she'll blame Donald Trump for prices continuing to rise, which isn't entirely untrue. A third of the annual increase is due to petrol prices and that's tied to events involving Trump and Iran. This helps National because it's running this election not only on its own record, which, let's be honest, has been patchy, but also against Labour's record. It's playing the "don't put it all at risk" card and it's playing that card hard. You would have heard that from Nicola Willis on the show. The only problem with these numbers is that they're backward-looking. Yes, interest rates have been coming down but they're starting to climb again. Westpac has moved on fixed rates and you can bet your bottom dollar the other banks will soon follow. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Origin Energy has confirmed the full extent of how many Australians were impacted by the recent hacking scandal. In an update to customers, the energy giant said 900,000 current and former customers had their data accessed. Australian correspondent Murray Olds says the hackers got access to important information, including names, addresses, dates of birth, and payment histories. LISTEN ABOVE  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Auckland's Snowplanet has partnered with one of NZ’s leading commercial solar companies, Sunergise, to produce more snow for less energy. The new system features 2,317 ground-mounted panels on the hillside adjacent to the main facility, in order to create 80 cubic metres of fresh snow every week to keep the experience going for skiers. Snowplanet general manager Rojie Aguilar says the clean energy is a plus - and it will save the company power as well. "It covers 30 percent of our overall power bill, because we're a 24-hour operation. So during the day, it covers the whole - if it's sunny, obviously - the whole environment."  LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A digital marketing agency says more New Zealanders are turning to TikTok to decide where to eat and shop.  A new Infometrics report shows the app supported almost 10 thousand local jobs last year and helped boost the local economy by an estimated $1.2 billion.  It reveals more than 300 thousand New Zealand businesses are using the platform each month.  Squid Group founder Laurence Carey told Andrew Dickens it's becoming a useful research tool.  He says it's without a doubt the easiest way to find a restaurant to eat at or something to do.  LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

TikTok's proving to be a powerful tool for New Zealand businesses.  A new Infometrics report shows the social media platform helped boost the local economy by an estimated $1.2 billion last year.  It found more than 670 thousand New Zealanders are visiting restaurants and cafes or making other purchases after discovering them on TikTok.  Infometrics Principal Economist Brad Olsen told Mike Hosking around 50% of businesses in New Zealand reckon they’re using TikTok in some way, shape, or form.  Of that number, he says, around 15% don't do anything paid, instead just posting organic videos, which is a low cost but effective way to get in front of a whole bunch of eyes.  LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Queenstown's famous gondola and luge operator continues to reach new heights.  Skyline Enterprises has reported revenue of $239.3 million, up 15%, while net profit more than doubled to $86.1 million in the year to March.  International visitor numbers from its key markets have now surpassed pre-Covid 2019 levels.  CEO Geoff McDonald told Mike Hosking the Iran conflict is influencing where people travel, and is helping New Zealand's shoulder season.  He says there's a clear rise in the number of Americans coming through.  LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Kiwi furniture brand Mocka is preparing to open its first standalone physical store in New Zealand, nearly 20 years after it began operating. Originally selling kids’ furniture online, the business’ range expanded to curated collections across key sectors, and it's set to open its first bricks-and-mortar store in Christchurch. Mocka chief executive Catherine Williamson says the brand's not looking to compete with Ikea - and it'll do things the 'Mocka way'. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Telecommunications company Spark has reorganised its operations into two divisions to reflect an increasing focus on core services. The core telco and IT services will come under the direction of the Connectivity division, with the other division responsible for Digital Services. Harbour Asset Management's Shane Solly explained further. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Laurie Blyth, owner of the Frontrunner store, has told customers not to use the in-store sizing service, and then buy cheaper online. Blyth has put up a sign outside the store saying staff will ask customers if they intend on shopping online before they fit them. Consumer NZ chief executive Jon Duffy says this will be difficult to enforce as customers could just fib, but there's nothing wrong with this move. "They also absolutely have the right to ask the question, and if someone says - yeah, I'm just using the sizing service you're paying for to size up a shoe so they can buy it online, it's perfectly within the shopkeeper's rights to say they're not going to offer that service."  LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

An infrastructure advocate says the introduction of new AI data centres requires careful consideration.  The Green Party wants a one-year pause on new centres, while rules for the industry are developed. It says the already consented facility in Southland is expected to use about 6% of the country's total electricity supply. Infrastructure New Zealand Chief Executive Nick Leggett told Mike Hosking that the benefit to New Zealanders must have weight in any new consents. He says the door to data centres should be open - but with adequate checks and balances.  LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

New Zealand businesses are selling like hot-cakes.  ABC Business Sales' latest report shows there were 503 completed sales over the last 12 months, up 19 percent on the year before.  The business broker says New Zealand is still in a seller's market with an average of 34 buyers per new business listing. Managing Director Chris Small says they're sending out huge numbers of confidentiality agreements to people who want to look at the details behind businesses. He says more than a 100 of these are signed, for the most popular businesses. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Support for National's paid parental leave policy, from at least one business leader. The party's promising to extend paid parental leave from the current 26 weeks,  to 30 weeks by 2029 if re-elected, with further increases possible if finances allow. Parents would also have more flexibility to share, or take leave at the same time. Business Canterbury CEO Leeann Watson told Andrew Dickens that most small businesses would already be paying for some additional cover regardless. She says hiring someone for slightly longer, could make things easier, as it can be challenging finding someone for a short term role. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The AI is now breaking out of its containment. Should we be afraid? Boy, it's almost like Hollywood predicted this! Our worst fears about AI have come true, with OpenAI saying its new ChatGPT model managed to connect to the internet and hack into another AI company's servers. It was meant to be contained, it was not meant be connected to the internet, but it found a way through. These new models are so good, they're finding vulnerabilities and exploiting them all on their own to achieve a goal. JPMorgan Chase's CEO Jamie Diamond was one of the people briefed into Anthropic's powerful model, and said this week that we need to slow things down. He said widespread access to Mythos could create risks comparable to "giving ballistic missiles to individuals". He also revealed that some of the bank's departments have cut 30-40 percent of headcount and moved them to be AI powered. He thinks the claims of mass layoffs because of AI are unfounded but that while jobs have been lost, jobs have also been created. Move over Slack, there's a new chat app in town  This one - called Buzz - brings your human workers and AI workers together. Just like you would ask a coworker for something, you can ask your Agent for it too. There can even be managers of agents that have teams of specialists and they handle all the tasks. Buzz comes from one of the founders of Twitter, who now runs Block - the company behind Square and Afterpay. It uses your own Claude or ChatGPT on your computer, is open source (so can he self hosted on your own servers for free). Ford is teaming up with Apple to bring better tech to its cars  Apple announced a new offering for Automakers and said Ford would be its founding customer.   Basically, Apple is making its map and navigation tech available in-car systems. This isn't an Android vs Apple thing, those will still work just as normal, but this is about the car's actual operating system. It means that the car makers can use the same tech that the iPhone maps use, and get all those benefits without needing to spend huge dollars developing it inhouse. Things like turn-by-turn directions, slowdown information, better visualization.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It’s been yet another week of yet more unsettling news. The conflict in the Middle East appears to be escalating again. As of this morning, we face even higher tariffs in the U.S than under President Trump’s previous measure. But if there’s one piece of unsettling news I think we probably haven’t grappled with sufficiently, it’s the latest humbling episode with one of the world’s biggest AI companies.   OpenAI admitted yesterday that one of its new models has autonomously broken free of its shackles, escaped from the walled-off environment where it was supposed to be safely tested, gained access to the wider internet, and successfully hacked another company.   Legally it's a grey area. There's a pretty strong argument that this was a crime. If a person did it, theoretically they could be charged. But it wasn’t a person. It was an autonomous AI model going to fairly extreme lengths in order to solve a problem that had been posed by its creators. Again, it was supposed to be contained. Those same masters who posed it a challenge had thought it was confined in what they call a sandbox, a sort of digital playpen where you can wall in a model and stop it from escaping to the outside world. But like a toddler who pulls themself up and climbs out of a cot, this model got free. AI models are now so good at exploiting cyber vulnerabilities, they can exploit the vulnerabilities of their creators. Ultimately, the model solved the problem it had been set. But at some cost.   There were heaps of details that made this whole episode particularly interesting. For starters, it looks like OpenAI didn’t really understand what its own model was doing. They couldn’t tell in real time that it had escaped and was roaming the internet at large. They couldn’t pull a metaphorical power cable out of the wall, because they only realised what it had done after the fact.   But if there’s one thing to be grateful for in this instance, it’s the target of the AI hack. It wasn’t a bank or a crypto-currency exchange or a weapons system. It was a start up called Hugging Face which works as an interface for open source AI. If anything, the boss of Hugging Face sounded kind of stoked that his business had been targeted.  Of course this is the sort of thing that experts have been warning about for ages. At the most extreme end of the AI doomerism scale, they’ve suggested these systems could ultimately decide humans are an inconvenience and that the world would be a much better place if computer systems were in charge. And arguably one very important step on the road to AI Armageddon is this - a model breaking free. If you can’t be bothered engaging with AI, or even if you think AI is overhyped...this week marks a significant milestone. In one sense, it is incredibly impressive that an autonomous system, operating completely free of human control, is able to pull off something with this complexity. In another sense, it is incredibly unsettling. If this is where the technology is today, who can honestly say where it might be in five or ten years’ time? LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

New Zealand’s agriculture sector should be able to withstand the current El Niño weather pattern, although it may lead to increased farm costs, an agricultural economist says. Earth Sciences New Zealand this month confirmed El Niño conditions have been reached the tropical Pacific and are expected to strongly influence New Zealand's weather.  The Country's Jamie Mackay explained further. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

One of New Zealand's big power companies is throwing their support behind a firm planning to build a large data centre in Southland. Mercury has invested $53 million for a 12.7 percent minority equity stake in Datagrid NZ. Mercury CEO Stew Hamilton says the company's looking to invest in a new growth sector - and there's potential to make more investments like this down the track. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Australia's unemployment rate stayed at 4.4 percent in June, according to the latest Labour Force data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics. The rise in employment was driven by a 47,000-person rise in part-time work, pushing it to more than 4.6 million people, with full-time employment also rising up by 29,300 to over 10 million people. Australian correspondent Murray Olds says the Reserve Bank is looking for unemployment figures to go higher in order to cool the economy down. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Recent data has unveiled a silver lining in the latest June-quarter inflation figures. Rents rose at their slowest rate, annually, in 25 years, according to Stats NZ. The country’s stock of rents rose by 0.5 percent between the June 2025 and 2026 quarters, continuing the trend of softening increases that began towards the end of 2024. NZ Herald Wellington business editor Jenee Tibshraeny explained further. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It's been an interesting time for the tech sector, with many big companies reporting their results. Tech stocks recently reversed some of the recent selloff last night - with the Nasdaq up 1.9 percent. Milford Asset Management's Andrew Curtayne explained further. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

ChatGPT maker OpenAI said its artificial intelligence system hacked into another AI company on its own - and they're launching a full investigation. AI startup Hugging Face said last week that it had detected an intrusion into its data processing systems that it suspected was caused by an AI agent acting on its own.  Auckland University AI expert Dr Kerry McInerny says AI has been used to hack companies in the past, but this incident raises new concerns about cybersecurity.  "My fear is that we focus a lot on the capacities of the agent of the AI itself, and that distracts away from the people who I think we should really be holding responsible - which is OpenAI itself."  LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A new trend has emerged, where people are ordering fake takeaways and filling online shopping carts knowing they'll never receive a thing.  This viral trend is gaining popularity, with one platform, FoodNeverComes, claiming nearly 1 million 'cravings satisfied' to date. Queensland University of Technology, Professor of Marketing and Consumer Behaviour, says this gives consumers a version of the online shopping experience in order to stave off boredom.  "The research shows that we're more inclined to do online shopping...generally in the evenings. We've got home from work, we've had dinner, we sit down and go - I might just pick up my phone and see what's available online."  LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

US President Donald Trump on Tuesday imposed 50 percent tariffs on most Canadian goods, and concerns have been raised about the economic implications. The new tariffs would exclude energy products, potash, fish and critical minerals, but would cover goods that had previously been protected from import taxes by the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement. US correspondent Dan Mitchinson says Canadian officials haven't said much, but there's speculation Canada could raise tariffs on their own goods.  LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Consumers Price Index (CPI) has increased 4.1% in the 12 months to the June 2026 quarter, according to figures released by Stats NZ today. As expected, the increase can be partially contributed to the US-Iran war as the largest upwards contributor to the annual inflation rate was petrol, up 27.5%. Finance Minister Nicola Willis is labelling annual inflation hitting its highest level in more than two years a “Trump spike”. Former Reserve Bank senior economist Michael Reddell told Andrew Dickens that economists don't tend to look at the headline numbers but they will be digging through the numbers to find trends.  "It's a bit like the famous line about democracy, you know, it's not a perfect system, it's just better than any of the alternatives that have been tried, and inflation targeting is a bit like that as well. It's definitely not perfect." LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

I have so many questions around the Government bailout of Golden Bay Cement, which is not in fact manufactured in Golden Bay, but in Northland.   Fletcher owns the company and they said Golden Bay Cement operates New Zealand's only domestic cement manufacturing facility at Portland near Whangarei. It supplies nearly 60% of the cement used in New Zealand – about 95% of its output is sold domestically. Golden Bay Cement took a long hard look at the account books and participated in an independent assessment which confirmed that without support, rising costs —including carbon costs— would force the closure of the company and a shift to an import only model for cement from 2030.   So in steps the Government with a $60 million payout. They say it’s a specific one-time response to an exceptional set of circumstances, to keep the plant open at least through to 2040. In return, Golden Bay Cement has committed to continue producing cement at its Northland plant at least until 2040 and to invest at least 150 million through to 2040, phased over time. Finance Minister Nicola Willis told Heather du Plessis Allan last night the decision to offer a bailout was not made lightly and does not set a precedent.  “We went through three steps. One, this is quite different in that it is strategically so important that you can produce cement for your domestic economy, that you're not exposed to not being able to have cement if there was an international trade disruption. Two, the financial case here is that actually this is a business that is working overall. The key thing is just that emissions cost. And three, we've set in place some really firm requirements that Golden Bay need to meet in order to get this cash with clawbacks if they don't meet those requirements. And that includes keeping production going through to at least 2040 making $150 million worth of investments in that manufacturing capability, keeping the jobs at that factory going, and having an open book exercise with us, the Government, so that we can audit that investment. So we set a very high bar, we took a very case by case approach. Believe you me, I did not want to be setting a precedent that we're going to keep doing this.”  Well, yeah, you kind of have set a precedent though, haven't you? Because when you bail out one company, that's precedent. The other companies can say you've done it before, so it's a precedent. And Nicola Willis made the point that, oh, this is a thriving company, it's just that emissions cost. Yeah, about that... that's one of those questions. If it's just that emissions cost, then that's not going to change unless you change our obligation to the Paris Agreement and unless you do as other European countries have done and delay the introduction of the ETS or scrap it all together. So “just that emissions cost” is what's snookering a whole lot of New Zealand companies.   Fletcher says that New Zealand manufacturers face carbon costs that importers largely avoid. They want to see a carbon border adjustment mechanism, something they say addresses the structural imbalance directly and would let the ETS work as intended without exposing domestic manufacturers like Golden Bay to ongoing domestic advantage. A CBAM would apply a carbon charge to imported goods based on the emissions generated during their production. While we're all being, hey look at us, we're being so good and we're saving the Arctic shelves and we're snookering our own companies because we believe in the greater good of the of the planet and the universe, other countries go, yeah, no, not for us. Not really. We don't buy into that whole ETS thing, so we're not going to do it. They can make their goods a whole lot cheaper on so many levels without the ETS even coming into it. Add the ETS on that, the fact that they're ignoring it completely, no wonder their goods are cheaper.   So as Fletcher says, why don't we bring in the carbon border adjustment mechanism so wherever it's made in the world, you have to pay your ETS if we're all going to buy into that. How is a one-off payment going to help given the trading environment isn't changing or they've given no indication of the ETS obligations changing anytime soon? And they won't under Labour and Greens, if anything they'd go up. And if Golden Bay is so critical, why isn't Carter Holt Harvey's pulp and paper and plywood? I would have thought that was pretty critical too. Except of course they closed down and it wasn't an election year. Perhaps that's the difference. Last year Carter Holt Harvey saw the closure of Kinleith and Eves Valley sawmill with the loss of hundreds of jobs. We had the closure of Ravensdown, Smithfield, and Ruapehu. Each of these towns and regions could argue that what they made was critical to the supply chain. It was certainly critical to the economic viability of their particular region, which is not awash in situations vacant.   Cameron Bagrie has called the bailout of Golden Bay corporate welfareism. Of course it is. Fletcher says it's not, the Government says it's not, but if it's taxpayer money going to an entity that can't support itself, that's welfareism. Nicola Willis might not want to set a precedent, but she has. And a one-off payment is not going to fix the problem, as Fletcher points out. We have signed up to the Paris Accord, we've said, oh yes, bring on the ETS, please let's cripple ourselves so we can maintain the moral high ground. And in the meantime, we're going to have to import goods that are made by other countries that have stuck two fingers to Paris and said we can't afford it. How does that work? How do we maintain the moral high ground by buying goods from countries that are ignoring their carbon offset obligations? We do our own companies out of business, we put people out of work, and we buy from countries that ignore the ETS. It doesn't make any sense to me at all. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Nicola Willis told us she did not take the decision lightly, and well, she might have said that.  She's lucky it's only cost $60 million. We still don’t know the terms, but we need to.  This is Golden Bay Cement, and the Government has come to their rescue.  Without this help, allegedly, they would have closed.  There is only one supplier in the country – this in and of itself would seem to be an issue. They produce 60% of what we use.  Is the other 40% cheaper? And what of the climate mitigation issues Fletchers speak of? Why do we worry about the 60% and not the other 40%?  Why is climate so important in the cement business, and is climate worth worrying about if it means the closure of business and the loss of jobs?  That is one of the questions of the age, especially given the Europeans over the weekend signalled their intentions to pull back on climate expectation for businesses for exactly the same reasons.  Climate versus jobs? We quite like the work, thanks.  Fletcher Building is the owner and a company with no shortage of drama around their reputation and activities, but not a business desperate, you wouldn't have thought, for $60 million.  But, and here is the crunchy bit, they're a company that in straightened times is perfectly entitled to pull the pin on things that aren't working.  So, a good business decision, or blackmail?  Is the business run as they claim? In other words, it's not workable, or are they a bit useless?  Britain is having the same conversation currently over a nationalised steelworks involving the Chinese and a water company that’s on its knees.  The trouble is the specifics and the precedent. Every story is unique.  Can a government write a cheque for one-offs? Maybe.  Does it set a potential precedent? Yes.  Should the Government be in cement? No.  Should we be more resilient in the basics of things like building materials? Yes. We have just had that debate by cleaning out an old tank at Marsden. Resilience is important.  So I don’t mind this as a one off.  But is it a bad business or is it a business hampered by dumb rules around climate? And if it’s the latter, would a change of rules fix the problem better than a bailout cheque would? See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Electricity and money go hand-in-hand. Every house needs power, and everything costs money.  So how do you balance the two in the midst of a Cost of Living Crisis? And what should you keep an eye out for that might impact the number on your energy bills? Harbour Asset Management Co-CEO Andrew Bascand & Harbour Asset Management Senior Manager Sue Walker join Tim Beveridge on Smart Money.  LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Trade Minister Todd McClay addressed media with his Swiss counterpart Helene Budliger Artieda at the Future of Investment and Trade (FIT) Partnership ministerial meeting in Auckland to announce trade partnership talks.  Limited details are available as the talks are in the early stages. "What we've agreed today is to start a formal trade investment dialogue," McClay told Heather du Plessis-Allan. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Meat industry leaders are disappointed with the United States’ move to initiate a safeguard investigation into lamb imports from New Zealand and Australia. The investigation, to be carried out by the US’s International Trade Commission, is expected to take up to six months to complete. The Country's Jamie Mackay explained further. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Kiwis are often told to look for the best deals on power, and they're not afraid to swap providers for a better price. So who's winning and who's losing the battle for those customers? Data from the Electricity Authority shows that Genesis Energy is the biggest loser here, with the company losing a net 35,015 customers in the year to June. Nova lost 9059, Manawa 3329 and Mercury 2706. On the opposite end, Contact gained 20,577, Electric Kiwi gained 11,590 and Meridian gained 10,288.  Consumer NZ Paul Fuge says the energy market is quite volatile, and many companies have been making changes to keep up. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

There's a belief sluggish retail spending is a reminder retailers need to stick to the basics. Stats NZ says core retail spending last month was only 0.4% higher year on year. Spending on clothes fell the most at 4.2% – its fourth straight decrease. First Retail Group Managing Director Chris Wilkinson told Ryan Bridge retailers have to be hungry in the market with strong retail disciplines, but he understands it's tough.  He says rising costs and distribution has made things challenging for retailers.  LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Recent reports indicate the listed retirement sector in New Zealand has continued to struggle in 2026. Share market expectations were high in the new year, but the predicted growth has since turned flat and negative. Milford Asset Management expert Jeremy Hutton explained further. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Netflix is in talks to buy the New Zealand-founded Letterboxd for $423 million, according to new reports. Letterboxd was created by Auckland designers Matthew Buchanan and Karl von Randow, and it allows people to create profiles and log and rate their favourite movies. Entertainment journalist Karl Puschmann says Letterboxd has a reputation as a niche social network, and there's concerns about what a corporate takeover could do for it. "That sense of community around it, you feel like you're with film enthusiasts, you feel part of that club - they've got a delicate balance here to keep that feeling and also get that return on investment." LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Australia's moving to protect local content, as it pushes through on mandatory AI standards. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has promised to pass legislation by early next year. The protective controls will include barring AI companies using Australian books, music, art or news to build or train AI without the creator's consent and control.  Gorilla Technology CEO, Paul Spain, says he thinks music will be a particular focus. "What they're probably not going to tolerate is music that is too obvious as a rip-off of Australian music, and we would see that across a whole range of areas."  LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Another positive sign for the economy.  Kiwi manufacturer Skellerup —who makes everything from gumboots to industrial rubber products— has lifted its annual profit forecast to as much as $65 million.  They credit stronger than expected US demand for the increase.  CEO Graham Leaming told Mike Hosking they thought tariffs and the conflict in the Middle East might drive inflation and dampen demand in the US market, but that hasn’t materialised.  He says demand remains strong, and the things they manufacture and sell are often pretty critical to customers, so they were able to adjust prices in response to tariffs and increases to the cost of raw materials.  LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Strategic Pay’s latest Directors’ Fees Survey shows the non-executive director pay gap has narrowed to just 0.5 percent. The findings highlight a significant narrowing of the gender pay gap across New Zealand boardrooms - with women earning 5.9 percent less than their male counterparts in 2025. Strategic Pay managing director Cathy Hendry says growth in the public sector has helped move this change.  LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

New data shows that business confidence has picked up for  in the June quarter, but Middle East tensions and higher fuel prices remain a concern. The latest NZIER survey shows a net 12 percent of business owners are feeling positive - up from just 1 percent in March. Westpac senior economist Michael Gordon says things are changing day-to-day, and it's unclear where things will end up. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

New data shows that Kiwis spent a collective $1.1 billion on takeaways in the first quarter of 2026, as delivery services see more popularity. Delivereasy, Uber Eats, and DoorDash are becoming a key part of New Zealanders' lives - and diets - and many local eateries are reliant on these services. Delivereasy founder Tim Robinson says people like the convenience, and the growth has been interesting to watch. "Even when times are a little bit tough, people seem to like the convenience and the comfort."  LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Customers of a liquidated solar-panel subscription service are complaining they're stuck in expensive contracts.   SolarZero went into liquidation in 2024, with thousands of customers still on 20-year-agreements. Now many customers say their power bills are rising more than expected - with no easy solution.  Customer Rohan Metrani says he has no one to speak to, to cancel his contract.  "We want to get rid of their system, we're paying for the rental - which isn't really getting us any savings. So it's become more of a liability." LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Reports indicate the ceasefire in the Middle East has been scrapped and the conflict is starting back up again. The US claims it's struck 140 Iranian military targets in response to an attack on a merchant ship in the Strait of Hormuz. Iran says it's hit multiple US military sites. Harbour Asset Management expert Shane Solly explained further. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The editorial this morning goes out to all the small and medium business people. Those of you who are starting the work week looking to earn your own keep, employ some New Zealanders, pay your taxes, and provide a product or service that people want or need. You don't want luxury yachts and private jets. You just want to work hard, be rewarded fairly, have people get out of your way, not be strangled by red tape. Seems a fairly reasonable state of being. But as we know, small and medium enterprises are struggling and have been struggling for a few years now. And with an election looming, the EMA has released its election policy directives for 2026 And there are five of them: stability and certainty, wouldn't that be lovely, infrastructure and consenting, energy supply, employment legislation, and investment and innovation. Amongst its directives, the EMA highlighted what it says is a big issue for businesses: the lack of work readiness among those graduating from educational institutions. The number of those not in employment, education, or training in the 18 to 24 age bracket continues to rise. They've come out of school, they've come out of training, and nobody will take them on, nobody's willing to take a risk. There's no doubt one of the drivers behind these numbers is a reluctance by employers to hire those new faces, says the EMA. They're simply not ready for the workforce, lacking many basic skills and struggling with the simple disciplines of turning up, listening, and engaging in the workplace. So the finger's being pointed squarely at the young people and the schools and educational institutions that have trained them. On early edition this morning, employment lawyer Max Whitehead disagreed. He said it's not the young people, it's the businesses lacking confidence to hire right now. Young people have always been young people. We've always been a bit useless when we start in our job unless you're a rare and wonderful unicorn, you don't know the job. You might have been trained, that's not the same thing as doing and being in the job, you don't really earn your keep until a little later. So it's no use pointing the finger at the young person. Max Whitehead said it's the environment and the conditions at the moment that mean employers aren't willing to take a chance. And he also says that the corresponding lack of productivity is due to us being a nation of one or two men bands who lack the technological capability to be more productive. New Zealand's now a nation of contractors. They're just like one or one man bands or just a couple of people of employees. And they are the people that are really the core of our country. And that's where I think EMA's missing out is focusing on that, getting them on their feet again. Maybe even if some of many of our contractors worked as cooperatives and actually purchased collectively some equipment that would make them actually more productive. That would be better ideas, but that needs to be incentivised. Where do you think the issue is? If you are a one or two man band, you might have a few little young people working for you. You might have some people who've been with you for 50 or 60 years, but three, four, up to 10 employees. There's been an ongoing issue with New Zealand's lack of productivity. It's not that we don't know how to work hard. People are working hard, but they're not being as productive as they could be. Max Whitehead says we lack the technological capability that a group of like minded SMEs could get together and buy the technology, the computer programs that might be expensive, the capital that might be expensive, that you couldn't do on your own but you might be able to do as a team. I just don't think it's the young people. Everywhere I look, there are young people keeping shops, stores, businesses going over the long weekend. Without them, we'd be stuffed. And I bet there'd be a hell of a lot more young people in work if they could get it. You certainly hear of young people going around and knocking on doors and wanting to work. if you're a small, medium business operator, owner operator, are you exactly where you want to be? If you're not, what is it going to take for you to be where you want to be, to be as productive and earning as much as you want to be? LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Employers and Manufacturers Association is pushing for a bipartisan approach to business policy ahead of the election. The EMA wants greater certainty for businesses. Including plans for manufacturing, a clear energy future and stable settings.  Head of Advocacy Alan McDonald told Mike Hosking that as long as everyone can agree on the major settings, it shouldn't matter which government gets in.  He says the changing back and forth over the past decade has been highly problematic.  LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A new era is on the way for one of the nation's most iconic fashion labels. Urban streetwear brand Federation is celebrating 25 years in business this year.  To mark the occasion,  founder Jenny Joblin is taking a step back, handing the reins to her children to evolve the business for the next generation. "When we hit this milestone, we were like - okay, we need to pause for a moment and just really look at all these different chapters and celebrate it."   LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Microsoft is cutting 4800 jobs - about two percent of its global workforce - in a sweeping restructure. Most cuts are part of a restructure of its struggling Xbox gaming division. It's the latest in a string of mass layoffs by the tech giant alongside major investment in AI. Sam Dickie from Fisher Funds explained the implications of this move. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A private jet company boss has voiced concerns about what could happen if there's not reform at the Civil Aviation Authority - and he's taken these worries to the Government. NZ Jet owner John Ambler has heard concerns from former and current CAA staff about the organisation's culture.  He says it includes an erosion of expertise, and operators fearing they'd be punished for raising concerns.  "We are losing experienced people within the civil aviation department at a great rate...it's alarming. And obviously, if these people within the unit aren't able to speak up for fear of reparations - what sort of system have we got?" Meanwhile, Air Chathams CEO Duane Emeny says there was need for change three years ago, and that Minister Simeon Brown acted quickly.  "He got quite a few new board members in, the whole leadership team in the CAA changed and, actually, we can sit here today and say, quite confidently, that we are seeing some of the good and positive outcomes of those changes." LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

People are not moving between jobs as seamlessly as they should in a productive economy, thanks to overly restrictive employment contracts. This is the conclusion reached by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), after a major new study spanning 15 countries including New Zealand. NZ Herald Wellington business editor Jenee Tibshraeny explained further. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The OCR has been increased for the first time in three years, and it's prompted a divided response among experts. The Monetary Policy Committee's unanimously agreed to raise the cash rate to 2.5 percent. Milford Asset Management's Remy Wisenberg unpacked the reactions further. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Official Cash Rate has gone up by 25 basis points. This is the first rise we've seen in three years. It was unanimous around the committee table that it needed to happen because of inflation. Even though petrol and diesel prices have fallen sharply since the Iran war ceasefire deal was struck, they're not back to pre-war levels yet and they won't be for some time. That, of course, is inflationary. You know what struck me, though? Even though this is the first hike in the Official Cash Rate in three years and even though there wasn't consensus among high-profile economists that this should happen - I mean, plenty of them were calling very strongly for it to be held for the sake of the economy - there isn't nearly as much angst around this as there was around any of the decisions Adrian Orr made. Even when they were decisions we wanted, we still got angsty because they were either too late, too early or whatever. Instead, the news conference was boring. So boring, in fact, that it was refreshing. Anna Breman slowly talked us through the decision with a slideshow. She let Paul, on one side of her, pipe up occasionally. Karen, on the other side, was also allowed to chip in. She took questions from journalists on video link. She explained really basic economic concepts to them. The impression you got the whole way through was that Anna Breman is in control. Because we knew this. This was not a surprise. We knew it was coming. It was very well signalled. Seventy percent of economists were expecting it. The market had priced it in. The NZIER Shadow Board was picking it. There was, as I say, consensus around the committee table. It gives the impression that she's not the victim of a knee-jerk reaction but is instead being quite deliberate in the path she's taken. You could argue that her job right now is every bit as hard as Adrian Orr's was, at least towards the end of his tenure. Because this Iran stuff is really mucking around with forecasts, isn't it? That news conference was so boring - and so angst-free - that it gives me some hope. The further we get away from COVID, and from the characters who were around during COVID, the more things might return to their boring averages. Maybe we'll get on with each other and get on with the jobs we're supposed to do a lot better. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Reserve Bank Governor says Kiwis will ultimately benefit from today's OCR hike - the first in more than three years. The cash rate has been raised to 2.5 percent. Governor Anna Breman says inflation's been eating up household budgets. She says getting inflation back down helps everyone. "It will actually make sure that households get their purchasing power back, they can spend more, they can get more demand, and we will see better growth and employment coming back."  LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.