Business and Commerce News

The value of residential building work put in place was $1,910 million in the June 2004 quarter, up $395 million (26 percent) when compared with the June 2003 quarter. For the year ended June 2004, the value of residential building work put in place was $6,917 million, up $1,326 million (24 percent) when compared with the year ended June 2003.

Seasonally adjusted, the value of residential building work put in place increased 11 percent from the March 2004 quarter to the June 2004 quarter.

The trend for the value of residential building work put in place has been rising since the March 2001 quarter. In the June 2004 quarter, the trend level was 24 percent higher than in the June 2003 quarter.

The trend series for the value of residential building consents issued has also increased, up 14 percent from May 2003 to May 2004 (the mid-point of the June quarter).
The value of non-residential building work put in place was $989 million in the June 2004 quarter, up $231 million (31 percent) when compared with the June 2003 quarter. For the year ended June 2004, the value of non-residential building work put in place was $3,611 million, up $413 million (13 percent) when compared with the year ended June 2003.

Commercial buildings (which includes shops, restaurants, taverns, offices, administrative buildings and storage buildings) and miscellaneous buildings each contributed $265 million (27 percent) to the total for the June 2004 quarter. This was followed by education buildings worth $140 million (14 percent), and factories and industrial buildings worth $128 million (13 percent).

Seasonally adjusted, the value of non-residential building work put in place increased 14 percent from the March 2004 quarter to the June 2004 quarter.

The trend for the value of non-residential building work put in place has been rising since the March 2003 quarter. In the June 2004 quarter, the trend level was 24 percent higher than in the June 2003 quarter.

The trend series for the value of non-residential building consents issued has also increased, up 20 percent from May 2003 to May 2004 (the mid-point of the June quarter).
The value of all building work put in place was $2,899 million in the June 2004 quarter, up $626 million (28 percent) when compared with the June 2003 quarter. For the year ended June 2004, the value of all building work put in place was $10,528 million, up $1,739 million (20 percent) when compared with the year ended June 2003.

Residential building work contributed 66 percent to the total value of all building work put in place in the June 2004 quarter, compared with 67 percent in the June 2003 quarter.

Seasonally adjusted, the value of all building work put in place increased 12 percent from the March 2004 quarter to the June 2004 quarter.

The trend for the value of all building work put in place has been rising since the March 2001 quarter. In the June 2004 quarter, the trend level was 24 percent higher than in the June 2003 quarter.

Quarterly Employment Survey statistics for the June 2004 quarter show that total paid hours in construction increased 14 percent from the June 2003 quarter to the June 2004 quarter, compared with a 6 percent increase from the March 2003 quarter to the March 2004 quarter.
The deflated value (the value after the effects of price changes have been removed) of residential building work put in place increased 15 percent from the June 2003 quarter to the June 2004 quarter. The deflated value of non-residential building work increased 20 percent between the two June quarters, while the deflated value of all building work increased 17 percent over the same period.

The value of building work put in place is deflated by the Capital Goods Price Index (CGPI) – refer to the Technical Notes for more information. The residential buildings CGPI increased 9.8 percent from the June 2003 quarter to the June 2004 quarter, while the non-residential buildings CGPI increased 8.6 percent between the two June quarters.

For residential building consents valued between $5,000 and $35,000, and for non-residential building consents valued between $5,000 and $70,000, the estimates of building work put in place use the value of the building consent rather than collecting actual values from individual respondents. It is assumed that all of the consent’s value will be put in place during the quarter in which it was issued.

The value of consents issued for non-residential buildings in August 2005 is $387 million, which is $79 million (26 percent) higher than in August 2004, Statistics New Zealand said today. The main contributor to the August 2005 value was shops, restaurants and taverns at $95 million.For residential buildings, the value of consents issued in August 2005 is $633 million, which is $90 million (17 percent) higher than in the previous August.

Consents were issued for 2,301 new dwelling units in August 2005, up 0.2 percent from August 2004 but down 15 percent from August 2003. Apartment units accounted for 12 percent of all new dwelling units in August 2005, compared with 19 percent in July 2005 and 11 percent in June 2005.

Consent values and numbers for August 2005 may have been affected by the inclusion of consents that would normally have been issued in earlier months. Some councils have been reducing the backlog of consent applications which followed changes to the building consent and inspection process that came into force on 31 March 2005.

For the year ended August 2005, the value of consents for all buildings totalled $10,858 million, up $596 million (6 percent) from the previous August year. Consents for residential buildings fell $213 million, while consents for non-residential buildings rose $809 million. Residential buildings accounted for 63 percent of all building consent values in the August 2005 year, compared with 68 percent in the August 2004 year.

New Zealand’s foreign exchange market handled an average of US$7.5 billion per day in April 2004 (relative to US$4.2 and US$7.6 billion per day in April 2001 and 1998 respectively), according to a Reserve Bank survey released today.

Auckland International Airport Limited (AIAL) is undertaking a major study into land transport issues at New Zealand’s largest airport, helping identify options to improve roading and public transport access.

“This initiative follows concerns about access at peak periods and the unpredictability of the time it takes people to get to and from the airport,” says AIAL chief executive, Don Huse.

“Over 10 million passengers used the airport in the past year and numbers are growing by five to seven per cent a year. Given the vital role the airport plays in the New Zealand and Auckland regional economy, it is crucial that passengers and freight are able to get to and from the airport easily,” said Mr Huse.

“With numbers of people and freight using the airport increasing every year, we need to ensure that the roading and public transport systems serving the airport are up to the task.

“We have been working hard to improve services at the airport, but for the public to get the full benefits of this investment we need to look beyond the airport itself at other critical factors that are an important part of the journey.”

Mr Huse noted that the airport and the region’s roading and public transport networks form an interdependent `supply chain’ infrastructure that helps the Auckland region achieve its economic growth potential.

“The wider regional and national economy as well as the performance of all airport operations suffers if there is a weak link in the infrastructure chain.”

Over 10,000 people are employed on the airport and it generates and facilitates around $14 billion to the New Zealand economy annually. In terms of freight, it is New Zealand’s second largest port by value of goods handled.

“At peak times of the year, more than 62,000 vehicles can travel to the airport each day.

“Our first challenge is to get a good understanding of the extent of the access issues. We are keen to identify some practical steps that can be taken to improve things, and believe it is in everyone’s interest to get them identified and actioned without delay,” he said.

The airport’s investigation will include seeking the views of airport staff, business and leisure travellers and other airport users, surveys to identify traffic bottlenecks and research of how other comparable international airports have addressed access issues.

The surveys and research will assist the airport to develop a clear view on what can be done to help improve land transport access to the airport, in both the short-term and long-term.

“We are aiming to have our initial findings identified by December,” concluded Mr Huse, “their purpose will be to assist in our airport master plan review and allow us to work with regional bodies on forward transport planning.”

An application by Federated Farmers of New Zealand (Inc) to the Registrar of Incorporated Societies to have Federated Farmers of New Zealand (Northland Province) Inc change its name has been successful.The Registrar found:

The relationship between Northland and the Federation has broken down
Northland has not been a province of the Federation since at least April 1999
Northland relinquished its affiliate status with the Federation in January 2001
Northland has no recognised status under the rules of the Federation.
The Registrar said “I consider that Northland’s current name represents itself to have a status and relationship with Federated Farmers. With Northland having lost that status and relationship, I consider that it is undesirable for Northland to continue with its current name.”

Federated Farmers President Tom Lambie said: “The Registrar has at last given clear direction on the use of Federated Farmers’ name and this can only been seen as a positive result for the Federation. Now the Federation can get on with representing the interests of all New Zealand farmers so they can farm profitably and sustainably.”

Whangarei Dairy Farmer Denis Anderson is the President of the Federation’s newly-created Northland province, which has around 300 members.

Federated Farmers of New Zealand (Inc) is New Zealand’s leading rural advocate, representing 18,500 farming businesses in 24 provinces throughout New Zealand, including Northland.

The Takeovers Panel today considered the unforeseen implications arising from an exemption granted to Prime Infrastructure Networks (New Zealand) Limited in respect of its proposed offer for Powerco Limited.

Part of the exemption allows Prime Infrastructure Networks to offer certain overseas shareholders cash only instead of the cash and scrip offered to all other shareholders.

The exemption is consistent with other exemptions granted pursuant to the Panel’s policy regarding scrip offers and overseas shareholders. It recognises that because of the costs of complying with overseas securities law requirements it is not always practicable to make a scrip offer on the same terms to all shareholders. This type of exemption is typically granted where the number of overseas shareholders is minimal. Overseas shareholders held 0.3194% of Powerco shares at the time of the exemption.

Since the exemption was granted on 9 September 2004, its provisions have been exploited by a number of market participants with addresses in Australia acquiring Powerco shares. As a result the number of shareholders who can obtain the benefit of the exemption far exceeds the number originally advised to the Panel. Because the offer contains a cap on the amount of cash to be made available in aggregate to all shareholders accepting the offer, such acquisitions may reduce the cash consideration available to remaining shareholders.

In future, the Panel will structure exemptions of this type to prevent their exploitation.

Average weekly gross income for all people from all sources was $554 in the June 2004 quarter, up 2.6 percent from the June 2003 quarter, according to Statistics New Zealand. Average weekly income from all sources was $700 for males and $417 for females.Between the June 2003 and June 2004 quarters, average weekly income from wages and salaries for all people increased by 4.6 percent to $348. This was due to a 3.2 percent increase in wages and salaries for those in paid employment and a 3.0 percent increase in the number of people in paid employment.

All occupation groups recorded increases in average hourly earnings between the June 2003 and 2004 quarters. Service and sales workers recorded the highest increase (up 4.8 percent to $12.76 per hour).

The 45 to 49-year age group received the highest average weekly income for all people ($795). This was also the age group with the highest average weekly income for males ($1,026) and females ($570).

People in the Auckland region had the highest average weekly income for all people in the June 2004 quarter, with $627, followed by Wellington ($585) and Waikato ($543).

The average weekly household income in the June 2004 quarter was $1,203, an increase of 2.8 percent from the June 2003 quarter’s average of $1,170. Median weekly household income rose 4.3 percent to $992. ‘One parent with dependent children only’ households received the lowest average weekly household income, $508, up from $504 in the June 2003 quarter.

The news that Ireland has abandoned carbon taxes should prompt the New Zealand Government to think again about its commitment to the Kyoto Protocol, says Business NZ.

Chief Executive Simon Carlaw says Ireland has concluded that costs outweigh the environmental benefits, and New Zealand should similarly consider whether it will gain more benefit than cost.

He says a recent report on the effects of ratifying the Kyoto Protocol shows the liability is large enough to warrant it being included in the Government’s financial statements.

An analysis by Castalia Strategic Advisors shows New Zealand facing a contingent liability of at $9 - $14 billion over the next 20 years.

Mr Carlaw says the Government policy of exempting agricultural emissions and protecting certain businesses from paying carbon tax means that New Zealand will have to buy emissions units from other countries to meet its Kyoto obligations.

“While carbon taxes should largely cover the cost, the contingent liability should be disclosed. The Castalia Report makes it clear that the expectation of carbon tax revenues does not absolve it from disclosing the contingent liability.

“More importantly, the Castalia Report underlines the fact that $9 - $14 billion will be removed from the pockets of New Zealanders over the next 20 years - a huge amount that will have an enormous impact on our economic growth prospects. This is exactly the reason why Ireland has made the move it has, and the reason why Australia and the US have declined to join the Protocol and instead taken a more sensible response to climate change.

“The New Zealand Government should now face up to the consequences of its actions and put its Kyoto liability on its balance sheets.”