The latest Alleasing Equipment Demand Index for New Zealand shows businesses expect to substantially grow their asset base this year - and they are increasingly likely to consider leasing as a funding option.
In a first for the quarterly Index, which launched in August 2015, more than half (51.2%) of the 250 businesses surveyed indicated they have plans to increase their asset base. For the first quarter of 2017, the average growth is expected to be 8.9%.
This is the first time the quarterly increase has exceeded 8%. Just 3% cent of businesses have plans to lower their asset base, by an average of only 3.4%.
This is also the first time the Index has included responses from executives in larger corporate businesses, which are defined as those turning over between NZ$100 million and NZ$250 million annually.
This was the most positive group of all surveyed for the Index, with over half (56.9%) indicating they want to add to their asset base in the first part of the year.
SMEs are also bullish about their plans to expand their asset base. A majority (55.2%) of businesses with an annual turnover of between NZ$5 million and NZ$20 million intend to bump up their asset base in the first quarter.Lower corporates (those with revenue of NZ$20 million to NZ$100 million) are the least positive, with 41.5% planning to boost their assets in the first quarter.
Leasing opportunities
The survey shows that businesses lease a relatively small proportion (16% or NZ$128 billion) of their assets. Moreover, 14.3% of businesses say unproductive assets hamper their growth.
Alleasing says this indicates there is a substantial opportunity for New Zealand businesses to leverage their balance sheets to invest in new plant and equipment.
The survey indicated there is considerable appetite among businesses to change their capital structure, with 13.1% stating they would like to refinance their existing assets through new capital structures.
However, nearly 20% of the businesses surveyed said capital constraints were restricting growth. Both small and large businesses are affected by constrained access to capital, with more than one-fifth of both groups naming lack of capital as a concern, compared to just over 17% of mid-market businesses.
The highest anticipated demand for new assets came from the agricultural sector where nearly two-thirds (62.5%) of businesses aim to invest in assets. More than half (51.4%) of businesses in the manufacturing sector are also looking to buy assets.
| An Asset Finance release | March 06, 2017 ||
Lincoln Electric Holdings Inc. has signed a Memorandum of Understanding and entered into exclusive negotiations to acquire Air Liquide’s subsidiary, Air Liquide Welding.
Air Liquide Welding is subject to a definitive agreement between the parties and customary conditions and provisions for a transaction of this type, including the “information-consultation” process with the employee representative bodies and the applicable competition authorities’ approval.
J.P. Morgan Securities LLC is acting as the financial adviser and Jones Day is acting as legal adviser to Lincoln Electric.
| A n AMN release | march 06, 2017 ||
Wouldn’t it be cool to have something as hard as steel and still malleable? Researchers from Hokkaido University in Japan have gotten a one up on this thought, they’ve built a new hydrogel material that has been reinforced with fibres and according to them it is five times harder to break than carbon steel. Along with this use the material is also very easy to bend and stretch.The researchers made a material that’s super tough and flexible at the same time
The researchers developed the fabric which is called fibre-reinforced soft composite (or FRSC). They did this by combining hydrogels- containing very high levels of water- with glass fibre fabric. The process of combining two materials together to get the best mix of both their properties is something that has been going on for a long time. This is a useful technique and can be used to create some really wonderful things. The idea is that you end up with a better product than the two standalone source materials.
Creating a substance that could easily bear heavy loads and was also very resistant to fractures was something that the scientists set out to create. These traits were easily found in hydrogels while the extra rigidity and durability was provided through the glass fibre fabric.
Just imagine the uses that this material could have. One good use would be building artificial ligaments or tendons for people who have ruptured their original ones. It could also be alternatively used in the fashion industry for manufacturing a very elastic but tough material.
| Originally published wccftech | March 07, 2017 ||
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The latest New Zealand Manufacturers and Exporters Association (NZMEA) Survey of Business Conditions, completed during February 2017, shows total sales in January 2017 decreased 2.49% (year on year export sales decreased by 3.86% with domestic sales decreasing by 0.66%) on January 2016.
For results tables and graphs, click here.
In the 3 months to January, export sales increased an average of 4.2%, and domestic sales increased 4.8% on average.
The NZMEA survey sample this month covered NZ$232m in annualised sales, with an export content of 56%.
Net confidence fell to -7, down from 10 in December.
The current performance index (a combination of profitability and cash flow) is at 101.3, up from 99.3 last month, the change index (capacity utilisation, staff levels, orders and inventories) was at 101, with no change from the last survey, and the forecast index (investment, sales, profitability and staff) is at 105.3, up on the last result of 104.5. Anything over 100 indicates expansion.
Constraints reported were 75% markets, 17% skilled staff and 8% capital.
A net 13% of respondents reported a productivity increase in January.
Staff numbers decreased 4.10% year on year in January.
Supervisors, tradespersons, managers, professional/scientists and operators/labourers reported a moderate shortage.
“2017 has seen a slow start for manufacturers, experiencing falls in both domestic and export sales on January 2016. This comes after a strong end to the year for November and December, though the export sales did experience challenges prior to this in October, September and July.” Said NZMEA Chief Executive Dieter Adam.
“Domestic were flat in January, falling 0.66% on the same month in 2016. The three month average for domestic sales stayed relatively strong at 4.8%. Export sales decreased 3.86% on January 2016, but sales on the three month average measure say an increase of 4.2%, boosted by the impressive increases felt in November and December.
“Sentiment measures were mixed in January – net confidence fell on December, slipping into the negative. In contrast, our index measures of performance and forecast increased, both sitting in expansion, while the change index remained the same as in December. Staff numbers fell 4.10% on January 2016 – this may be a reflection of some of the challenges in export sales over the last 6 months.
“For comparison, in the recent Overseas Merchandise Trade release from Statistics New Zealand, the value of mechanical machinery and equipment exports increased 1.5% in January on the previous month, but remained 5.4% lower than January 2016. Electrical machinery and equipment exports were flat in January, with an increase of 0.3% on the previous month. These did, however, experience a 9.5% drop on January 2016.
“All in all, we need to keep in mind that surveys of the manufacturing sector will be subject to fluctuations. Weak trends at least aren’t that easy to spot, even when looking at quarterly figures. We also need to be aware that our manufacturing sector is quite closely linked to global trends, and that globally there is a lot of uncertainty at the moment, especially where demand for capital goods is concerned. A lot of what our members manufacture are components or sub-systems for capital goods produced overseas.” Said Dieter Adam.
For further comment, contact Dieter Adam, 027 495 3276.
| An NZMEA release | March 07, 2017 ||
AECOM, the world’s biggest engineering firm, plans to spend billions of dollars on acquisitions amid expectations for growing U.S. funding of road, rail, water and energy projects, Chief Executive Officer Michael Burke said.
“We’ll look to be the largest infrastructure firm in the world -- both construction and design,” Burke said Monday in an interview at Bloomberg’s Los Angeles bureau. “I’ve got to spend $3.5 billion, and we think it’ll be spent on good, solid strategic acquisitions. We will grow organically also.”
Infrastructure spending by the U.S. government is likely to grow because it’s one of the few priorities shared by President Donald Trump, Republicans and Democrats in Congress, and voters, Burke said. Trump told Congress last week he wants to spend $1 trillion on infrastructure, a proposal Burke expects to be detailed later this year but that will take years to implement.
“I think a plan will be put in place before the end of 2017,” he said in a Bloomberg Television interview later Monday with Vonnie Quinn. “And then it will be implemented over the course of ’18 and ’19 and forward.”
The last major acquisition by Los Angeles-based AECOM, which reported $17.4 billion in revenue in the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30, was URS Corp. for $5.6 billion. The 2014 deal “created synergies” of about $325 million, exceeding projections, while also helping AECOM win more bids because of expanded capabilities, Burke said. AECOM has landed $12.3 billion of new projects over its two most recent quarters, he said, putting it on pace to surpass last year’s revenue.
> > > A Bloomberg release continue to full article
Trade Minister Todd McClay will travel to Brussels for Free Trade Agreement (FTA) talks with the European Union (EU) this weekend and will then go on to London for a meeting of Commonwealth Trade Ministers.
'The simple aim of my visit to Brussels is to meaningfully advance efforts to commence our FTA negotiations with the EU,' Mr McClay says.
'The EU is our third largest trading partner with annual two-trade closing in on $21 billion. It is immensely important that we continue to fight on behalf of our exporters for improved access and reduced tariffs.'
In London, Mr McClay will look to progress discussion on ways the Commonwealth can expand trade between members. He will also chair a roundtable discussion with his ministerial counterparts before meeting bilaterally with British Secretary of State for International Trade Liam Fox.
'This is an excellent chance to discuss the direct trade opportunities that arise for New Zealand in a post-Brexit environment,' Mr McClay says.
'New Zealand is a trading nation, trade liberalisation and fair access to markets are essential for the continued growth and stability of our economy.'
| A Public release | March 05, 2017 ||
Port Nelson has been a key infrastructure asset for the top of the south for decades but its importance to Marlborough is becoming even more significant, following last year’s 7.8 earthquake.
The port company is undertaking a $60 million, three-year capital expenditure programme that is designed to bring the port operation into the 21st century and ensuring it is fit-for-purpose as a modern port.
In recent years Port Nelson Limited has been gradually expanding the area directly under its control with many businesses that don’t need to be located in the port environment relocating to more appropriate commercial areas.
This has given the company the opportunity to demolish a number of buildings that were built in the 1950’s and ‘60’s and replace them with buildings designed for a modern freight operation.
Taking direct control of more land has also allowed the port company to enlarge its secure-fenced Customs Controlled Area (CCA). An important part of the redevelopment has been driven by very strong support from the wine industry resulting in the construction of a 13,000 square meter, $12m wine store, consolidation and distribution facility that will also be a Customs approved bond store.
Port Nelson CEO, Martin Byrne, says; “the wine volumes have risen dramatically, almost trebled, in the last three to four years and the container volumes have continued to increase so during peak times we’re extremely strapped for space. This facility will help us manage the wine related cargo volumes we handle now and in the future”.
Eugene Beneke, Business Development Manager for Port Nelson owned QuayConnect has been the driving force behind creating the facility.
> > > Continue to read the full article on New Zealand Winegrower | March 06, 2017 ||
Other countries that are not even “clean-green” have dealt with the tyre problem
Governmental public hand-wringing over the rural mountains of old tyres must be tempered with the understanding that central and local government was quite literally upto its neck in creating the detritus, noted the nation’s foremost developer of tyre remediation machinery.
Ken Evans (pictured) of Tekam Closed Loop is responsible for the New Zealand’s first all-size tyre granulator which converts discarded tyres into a variety of paving products.
Neither central nor local government encouraged the use of these granulated paving products and in some cases even discriminated against their use.
Government in all its forms had long failed to understand that the allocation of national and district contracts also militated against the use of granulated composition in roading and also in amenities surfacing.
Tekam Closed Loop’s tyre granulator is dual function in that it granulates the tyres in toto complete with their radial steel bands, or extracts the bands prior to granulation.
One of the reasons that surplus New Zealand tyres were being shipped to China was that the Chinese routinely used granulated tyre paving as a standard roading application.
Rubber roads are now standard in China, Brazil, Spain and Germany. The technique has been found to cut traffic noise by about 25 per cent, he noted.
Other applications in these countries convert tyres into ground rubber or rubber shreds, used to create ground cover for playgrounds, backfill for civil engineering projects, garden mulch, erosion control barriers or drainage foundations around buildings.
Low shock industrial surfaces such as those required for stock handling was another such example.
In his experience, Mr Evans noted, district and regional councils simply talked about installing granulation systems.
Though stockpiling old tyres in land dumps was now banned in the EU simply because they are not bio degradable, the practice continued unabated in this country, and showed every signs of continuing to do so once the current round of crocodile tears had dried up.
The technology existed in converting old tyres into asphalt, yet it was ignored in favour of instead formulating directives and policies instead of dealing with a problem that countries which do not even market themselves as being clean-green had long eliminated.
Another problem in New Zealand he said was that district authorities tended to consult on the problem with their roading contractors who had a vested interest in ensuring the continuation of the status quo, and thus doing nothing about the tyre problem.
Tekam Closed Loop developed the granulation system in conjunction with Napier Engineering and Contracting.
| From the MSCNewsWire reporters' desk | Monday 6 March 2017 ||
Foreign Minister Murray McCully travels to the Gulf region this weekend for meetings in Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Kuwait and Bahrain.
“Our relationships with this important region are growing at a great pace and my visit will be an opportunity to continue discussions about priority areas, including the NZ-GCC FTA, regional security issues and cooperation in areas such as renewable energy,” Mr McCully says.
The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), comprising Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates, is New Zealand’s eighth largest trading partner, with annual two-way trade exceeding $3.2 billion NZ dollars.
“The relationship with the GCC has grown remarkably in a very short space of time, underpinned by forty two air services per week between the Gulf and New Zealand, an increase of 50% since 2013,” Mr McCully says.
"Our economies are highly complementary, and there is huge potential for greater cooperation. The NZ-GCC FTA will help deliver on that potential and I look forward to discussing this opportunity on my visit.”
| A Beehive release | March 06, 2017 ||
Palace of the Alhambra, Spain
By: Charles Nathaniel Worsley (1862-1923)
From the collection of Sir Heaton Rhodes
Oil on canvas - 118cm x 162cm
Valued $12,000 - $18,000
Offers invited over $9,000
Contact: Henry Newrick – (+64 ) 27 471 2242
Mount Egmont with Lake
By: John Philemon Backhouse (1845-1908)
Oil on Sea Shell - 13cm x 14cm
Valued $2,000-$3,000
Offers invited over $1,500
Contact: Henry Newrick – (+64 ) 27 471 2242