Founded by Max Farndale 1947 - 2018
The Reserve Bank today confirmed that new rules tighten restrictions on bank lending to residential property buyers throughout New Zealand.
From 1 October, residential property investors will generally need a 40 percent deposit for a mortgage loan, and owner-occupiers will generally need a 20 percent deposit. In both cases, banks are still allowed to make a small number of loans to borrowers with smaller deposits.
Confirmation of the new rules is in the Reserve Bank’s response to submissions to its public consultation about changes to Loan to Value Ratio (LVR) rules.
The Reserve Bank is modifying its proposals in response to public consultation, and also through meetings and workshops with banks that are subject to the rules.
The new rules take effect on 1 October 2016, but banks have generally chosen to start following the new limits already.
Existing exemptions to LVR restrictions will continue to apply under the new rules and have been extended to make it easier to borrow for a newly built home or to do work needed for a residence to comply with new building codes and rental-property standards.
Summary of changes to LVR rules
Business leaders have a new tool on their hands to help them develop their leadership skills.
The Leader’s Digest app is a free resource developed specifically for leaders, enabling them to access answers to their leadership problems, tools to improve their skills and the latest leadership trends, from the comfort of their smartphone or device.
The app was developed by New Zealand-based leadership blogger and executive coach Suzi McAlpine, is designed to help business leaders feel more supported, informed and inspired in their roles.
McAlpine says the app was created in response to feedback from clients and readers of her leadership blog, The Leader’s Digest.
“Through my work as an executive coach and leadership blogger, I have found there’s a real need for leaders to feel more supported in their roles,” says McAlpine.
“Often leaders - particularly senior leaders and C-suite management - can feel isolated in their roles,” she says.
“A recent survey by Stanford University showed that more than 90% of CEOs find the process of receiving coaching and leadership advice highly effective and rewarding, but almost two-thirds do not receive support from outside consultants or coaches - and almost half of senior executives are not receiving any either,” explains McAlpine.
“Getting help and solutions to their issues as they happen is not always easy,” she says.
“The Leader’s Digest App is designed to help people access information as and when they need to, enabling them to feel more empowered and effective in their leadership positions.”
The Leader’s Digest App is available now for free download from the App Store or Google Play.
BusinessNZ is disappointed the Government has failed to heed submissions and is allowing goods to be dumped in NZ if it is deemed to be in the "public interest", via a new public interest test.
Executive Director of ManufacturingNZ, Catherine Beard says New Zealand manufacturers want a level playing field. "We want a vibrant competitive economy. Our manufacturers are globally competitive or they would not still be in business – but we can't compete against dumped product."
"It sends the wrong signal to manufacturers in New Zealand that any investment they make in building a business can all be wiped out by dumped product flooding the market and killing off their local business."
Students will repay taxpayers for their tertiary education through “time worked” under a New Zealand First proposal, says Education Spokesperson Tracey Martin.
“Students would still have a debt to their country but we would shift this to a debt of their time and skills – they will use their talents to repay their country’s investment in their education.
“A year worked in New Zealand will reduce the skill debt by a year. “It’s time to change the mindset from a financial debt to a skill debt to your country. “We cannot continue to load students up with financial debt. It is unsustainable. The financial, social and personal cost is too high.
“This fits with our existing policy of debt write off for those spending five years in the regions working in critical skill shortage areas. “New Zealand First will put much of the tertiary education focus on workforce planning, career advice and competitive course entry.
“We can cut education costs by over a billion dollars by fitting the education of each person to the requirements of the workplace. “Students will compete to get into courses, to ensure a better fit between the student and the field of study.
“New Zealand First will also widen the apprenticeship scheme to include non-traditional areas, such as truck driving which will minimise skill shortages and unemployment rates.
In addition we will:
Widely used technology routinely ignored in New Zealand claims process engineer.
European technology that converts milk and meat processing plant effluent into self- contained waste consuming and energy generating plants is now available in New Zealand.Napier industrialist Ken Evans said the technology allowed milk and meat processing plants to become their own standalone waste treatment units with the added advantage of these plants using the waste so consumed as their own source of energy.
As an example he cited large scale milking centres in Europe that were self sufficient in power simply because all the waste they generated was converted into electricity.He said that the era in which factories could discharge their waste in any volume or in any proportion into the public domain should have ended many years ago. It was now time to apply a readily available solution, and one widely used internationally, he said.
The problem he said was that there had not been the concerted nationwide will to do something about process waste finding its way into the water system.This he said was itself a by-product of uncertainty about the ability of technology to cope with the problem.
“You look at the situation today in which vehicles that drive themselves are now on the roads. Yet we still have copious amounts of concentrated waste matter allowed to penetrate the nation’s water system.”
He said that waste-to-energy plant technology in primary processing had been allowed to be placed in the “too hard” basket.
He said that the conservation lobby had allowed itself to become over-focused on international issues at the expense of seeking solutions to problems in what he described as the nation’s “back yard.”
He said that he would now ensure that milk and meat processors in New Zealand were acquainted with this waste-to-energy solution that was so widely used in Europe. His objective he said was to make New Zealand’s processing plants their own waste consumers, and thus their own energy suppliers.
It was he said a relatively low cost solution, and one with its own pay-back. This proven technology was now readily available in New Zealand backed by his specialists with the experience to install it.
From the MSCNewsWire reporters' desk - Monday 5 September 2016Ken Evans can be contacted on phone 64 6 843 0632 , mobile 64 027 293 2678 and by email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Vehicles, parts, and accessories, including more than 260,000 cars, accounted for 10 percent of our $67 billion of imports. This was the second-largest category of goods imports for the June 2016 year. Vehicles were our largest goods import from Japan, the European Union (EU), and Australia, and our third-largest from the United States (US).
We also imported vehicles, parts and accessories from some smaller trading partners. In the June 2016 year, vehicles were our largest import from Thailand, our second-largest from Korea, and our fifth-largest import from Taiwan.
“Vehicle imports from Thailand have tripled since 2012, and we now import more cars from Thailand than from the US or Australia,” international statistics senior manager Jason Attewell said.
“While we still import cars from Japan and Europe, home to many large car brands, as they restructure their global operations many of our cars are rolling in from other countries. Thailand has become the ‘Detroit of the East’, with producers such as Toyota, Honda, Ford, and Mercedes shifting gear and opening factories there in recent years,” Mr Attewell said.
Electronics from China our top import category
Our largest single import from one source in the June 2016 year was electrical machinery and equipment from China. We imported $2.0 billion worth of electronics (mainly cellphones) from China in the June 2016 year.
“Historically, vehicles were our biggest goods imports, but since December 2015 we’ve imported more electronics from China than vehicles from either Japan or the EU,” Mr Attewell said.
Service imports mainly from Australia
Australia was the main source of services imports in the June 2016 year. Nearly half this $5.0 billion of services came from New Zealanders travelling to Australia. Other services imported from Australia in the June 2016 year included management fees, research and development, and transportation services. The EU provided significant transportation services (eg sea and air transport), and the US provided considerable business services (eg management fees, and research and development services) in the June 2016 year.
Trade shows annual surplus
New Zealand’s trade with the rest of the world was a $1.7 billion surplus for the June 2016 year. Total exports of goods and services were $70.9 billion, while total imports were $67.2 billion.
New Zealand recorded trade surpluses with 16 of our top 25 trading partners in the June 2016 year, including Australia, China, the US, and Japan.
Goods and Services Trade by Country: Year ended June 2016 – for more data and analysis
SESCOC President Paul Campbell says SESOC has been prompted to make these comments following reports in the media that a law firm is proposing a class action in relation to mesh that may not meet The New Zealand Standard.
Before changes to the Building Code following the Canterbury earthquakes, many residential slabs were unreinforced. Even if slabs were reinforced, they generally used mesh that was not very ductile. Ductility, or stretch, is a critical steel property for many commercial applications, particularly multi-storey buildings.
Mr Campbell says: “Obviously engineers are concerned if mesh that is below standard has been circulated and used in residential buildings. But even if the mesh is only half as good as the current Standard requires, it is still at least 10 times better than what was used in the past, and infinitely better than unreinforced slabs.
SESOC and the Institution of Professional Engineers New Zealand (IPENZ), which represent the majority of structural engineers in New Zealand, are concerned that unnecessary public alarm could be generated over this issue.
“We are concerned that people, particularly homeowners in Christchurch who have been through years of emotional turmoil already, will experience unnecessary stress.
“In virtually all residential construction where mesh has been used to reinforce slabs, the reduction in capacity due to the mesh not meeting the required standard will be insignificant.
“For a small minority of homes that have been specifically designed and engineered, there may be some potential impact, but the designers of those buildings should be quickly able to advise whether this is significant.
“For commercial developments and larger residential properties that have used elevated concrete floors, there may be a very small number of cases where the mesh may affect the performance of the buildings in future earthquakes. The structural engineers responsible for the design should be able to advise whether this may be significant. In many cases where the strength of the mesh may be critical, it will have been augmented with regular reinforcing bars, which are not generally affected by these issues.
“We believe it’s important to point out that that the mesh supplied and used since the Canterbury earthquakes will still perform significantly better than the mesh that was used in the majority of floor slabs prior to the earthquakes, even if it does not fully meet the Standard.”
More than 160 people gathered at Auckland’s Villa Maria Estate last night, to find out who made the cut for the 2016 New Zealand Food Awards, in association with Massey University. Sixty-five products developed by 63 companies have been named as finalists this year. Competition stepped up a notch, with product entries up 62 per cent on last year; a record for the long withstanding and prestigious awards. Finalists, from niche operators to large-scale food and beverage manufacturers, will compete to take out the top spot in various categories including the popular Artisan Food Producer Award, BITE Gourmet Award and the Export Innovation Award, as well as the ultimate accolade of the Massey University Supreme Award.
I initially wrote this article in 2013, it’s scary how the time can creep up on you, especially when you are past the official retirement and are planning to sell your business. So what’s different and how am I addressing this challenge. A few thoughts to consider.If you are in business and are nearing retirement did you, • Buy your business with the plan to build it and then to sell it? • Or did you buy it to keep it and for a better life style? • Or have you brought it and now only have a JOB = Just On broke • Or are you thinking of retiring or in the age group that is nearing retirement?
If you are, then I suggest you read the following as there are a number of considerations you may need to think about for the sale of your business.
Statistic show that there could be as many as 10 -15000 or more baby boomer businesses due to hit the market in the next few years. Unfortunately, many of these will run smack into what he terms the “baby boomer bulge” where there will be many businesses for sale in competition with them. You only have to visit a business sales magazine to see the coffee shops and trade companies for sale.
A point of concern is that many husband and wife teams who have worked in their business for 20-30 plus years in preparation for retirement. Many may have a greater expectation of value of their business than what may actually be realized.Too many people wait until they have to sell, rather than exiting their business when they want to. If you fall into this demographic, are you prepared or are you waiting for the day when you want to sell and hope for the best, unfortunately it may be too late.If this triggers a call to action before it is too late then what is needed it to take stock of what you have.The effectiveness of any business is not just about the annual balance sheet, although this will be one of the contributing factors in your business sale. The assets of your business are also the risk management processes, its documented business systems, its people, sales processes, clients, and its intellectual property, never discount these as intangible assets.Another key consideration is the ability for future growth of the business for a potential buyer. A switched on experienced business advisor will be able to assist you with this.Be prepared to swallow your pride and don’t take offence at the awkward questions, be very honest as it’s an important if you want to capitalize on all your years of hard work and sacrifice, you are not alone in this.A word of warning. Don’t get hooked up with the warm fuzzy speak of a business advisor or business sales broker.
Why do I know this, we are now going through the very same process and have bitten the bullet to make what we have worked for 25 years work for us and for our future.
Our plan of action
Entering a third ageSo you have sold your business now what, mow the lawns, paint the house, hit the road and live the good life, these are one of the many questions you will have to consider.But what about the other investment that you may not have considered?The bank of accumulated life, trade or professional knowledge that is just sitting there to be reused.Have you ever considered that you may be entering your third age where you can capitalize on this and help others to succeed instead of retiring completely and to wait meet your maker?We may be grey, we may be silver but as they say, you are only as old as you feel.Age is only a number and the difference is the attitude what lays between ones ears.Health is a big factor and this may be an inhibitor for some things but there are other options.What we baby boomers have and banked over the years without realizing it, is all that experience and wisdom, now are you ready to spend it?
So how will you spend it, that’s the challenge when you should also be considering when you get ready to sell your business?
From the MSCNewsWire reporters desk by Gordon Anderson - Friday 2 September 2016
A Marlborough resident has called for a high temperature furnace to be built so chemically treated posts used in vineyards can be disposed of without damaging the environment.
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
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