Former Flight Centre boss David Coombes has stepped into the role of chief executive of House of Travel, effective May 13, taking over from former CEO Bruce Parton, who has stepped down from the role after three and a half years with the agency.
Coombes took a redundancy package from Flight Centre a year ago, after more than 20 years with the firm.
Chris Paulsen, who founded the agency in 1987, will step out of operational management of the company.
Meat processor Anzco Foods has reported a significant drop in profit for the year ending December 31, 2023, despite its management labeling the year as strong. The company posted a turnover of $1.8 billion, down from $1.9b in 2022. There was a sharp fall in net profit after tax, which plummeted by 58% from $106 million in the previous year to $44m.
The decline extended across other financial metrics too, with earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation falling from $185m to $110m, and after-tax profits reducing to $44.4m from $106.6m. Operating cashflows also turned negative, registering a loss of $42m compared with $133m in 2022.
CEO Peter Conley attributed the results to the global challenges of rising costs and interest rates, higher living costs affecting consumers, and sluggish recovery in key markets like China. He also noted operational hurdles from the depopulation and repopulation of their Five Star Beef operation due to Mycoplasma bovis.
Foley Wines reported it had completed its 2024 harvest, with more than 6400 tonnes of grapes harvested across vineyards in Marlborough, Martinborough, and Central Otago.
The NZX-list company behind brands such as Grove Hill, Roaring Meg, Mt Difficulty, and Lighthouse Gin reported its total harvest was down 21% from last year’s harvest, which surpassed 8100 tonnes.
The yield reduction was attributed to disruptive weather and cooler spring growing conditions in Marlborough and Martinborough.
Despite the lower volume, Foley Wines chief executive Mark Turnbull said Foley’s winemakers were delighted with the quality of the vintage.
Rocket Lab has completed the first full assembly of its Archimedes engine, the new 3D-printed, reusable rocket engine designed to power its in-development Neutron medium lift launch vehicle.
The Nasdaq-listed space company has now begun an intensive test campaign that will feature a number of engine system activations leading up to a first Archimedes “hot-fire”.
The engine test and development campaign is a key driver of the schedule for Neutron’s first launch, which Rocket Lab said is now expected to take place from mid-2025.
At its Q4 results update in February the company was targeting its first Neutron launch by the end of 2024, but warned timing would depend on the speed of development and testing.
CEO Peter Beck said his team had taken more time to bring a “mature” design to the testing phase, meaning the timeline had pushed out slightly, but he believed the approach would “deliver the frequent flight rates the market needs quickly after flight one”.
NZX-listed retailer Briscoe Group reported first quarter trading with total sales of $183 million, up 1% from $181.2m year on year.
The first quarter ended April 28 saw homeware sales down 1% to $108.7m, but the period was bolstered by sporting sales up $74.3m.
Briscoe Group managing director Rod Duke was pleased with the result given the challenging retail environment.
“Like all retailers we continue to see margins being challenged. We are very aware of the pressure on consumer spending."
Inventory was said to be well-controlled and finished the quarter about 8% lower across homewares and sporting goods.
"By maintaining our focus on how we construct, execute and analyse promotions, as well as relentless attention to controlling costs, the group’s bottom-line net profit after tax (npat) for this first quarter will be in line with the same time last year."
Duke expected retail to remain "highly challenging" throughout the remainder of 2024.