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Foley Wines has appointed Mike Higgins as its next chief executive. He has held the role as interim CEO since February 17 after the resignation of former CEO, Mark Turnbull.
Higgins said his continued focus would be on on enhancing the business’ growth and premiumisation strategy to deliver value.
He joined the Foley New Zealand Group as CEO of Foley Hospitality New Zealand in December 2024 to oversee the domestic hospitality and lodge business. He has a background in finance and operations, was previously Auckland Football Club's chief commercial officer and, prior to that, spent 23 years at advertising group, Clemenger.
Foley Wines chair Paul Brock said “Mike’s significant commercial experience with growth businesses in New Zealand will add real value to our customers and our people. He will play a key role in leading the continued success of Foley Wines.”
Halyey Horan has been announced as the next chief executive of Business Central and the Wellington Chamber of Commerce.
She replaces Simon Arcus, who resigned abruptly from the role in July after experiencing symptoms of burnout.
Horan has previously held senior roles at Microsoft and New Zealand Trade and Enterprise, including as the trade commissioner to Singapore. She also used to run Turners Auctions in Wellington and played a role in the Z Energy retail transformation.
“In a time of increasing challenges for businesses, both globally and at home, it is more important than ever to have strong leadership championing the voice of business and we think Hayley will be an exceptional addition to our team,” Business Central said in an email today.
The Act Party has proposed an amendment to a bill seeking to ban retail payment surcharges, saying the legislation needs to make sure it doesn't unintentionally make consumers worse off, nor unfairly punish businesses.
Act's commerce and consumer affairs spokesperson Parmjeet Parmar has written to the chair of the Finance and Expenditure Committee to propose a "targeted amendment" to the Retail Payment System (Ban on Merchant Surcharges) Amendment Bill, which would enable retailers that offer a fee-free alternative to be able to surcharge customers for more convenient options.
"If retailers are forced to absorb every payment fee without being able to offer alternatives, some may stop offering contactless or credit card options altogether – or simply raise prices for everyone," said Parmar.
Retail NZ Carolyn Young said she supports the amendment, while the current Bill would entrench the dominance of major card companies and make it harder for new payment technologies to emerge.
Dual-listed Manuka Resources – whose offshore Taranaki ironsands mining project is going through fast-track consenting – has halted trading in its shares pending a capital raise announcement.
In a statement to the NZX, the company said the halt would allow a bookbuild to take place in an orderly manner.
The announcement follows a ‘please explain’ notice from the ASX over a 72% share price gain from October 10 to 13.
Manuka Resources responded to the notice saying it was not aware of any information not available to the market that could explain the trading.
For the year to June, Manuka Resources reported zero revenue and a loss of A$16.9m.
Cash at balance date was A$968,645 and its operating cashflow for the year was negative A$5.2m.
Meal kit delivery service HelloFresh has been fined $845,000 following a case brought by the Commerce Commission.
In March, the competition regulator alleged the company misled customers in cold calls used to re-activate customers who had cancelled the food delivery service.
The conduct was said to have occurred between February 2022 and July 2023, when the ComCom said HelloFresh customers were offered a discount voucher without it being made clear that accepting the voucher would reactivate their subscription.
Yesterday, the company was fined $845,000 following a hearing in the Auckland District Court.
In a statement, HelloFresh Australia and New Zealand chief executive Tom Rutledge said the company unreservedly apologised for its shortcomings.
"Since mid-2023, HelloFresh New Zealand has put measures in place to prevent this from happening again... Customers who were affected received refunds or credits, and we deeply regret the frustration caused."