In case you missed it: News bites for the week.
Genesis Energy’s application to continue operating and maintaining the Tekapo power scheme has been approved under the Fast-track Approvals Act. It is the first renewable energy project to get approval under the coalition Government’s fast-track process, with Regional Development Minister Shane Jones saying the approval was a great example of the law doing exactly what it was meant to.
“The Tekapo power scheme generates enough clean energy to power more than 228,000 Canterbury households and it plays a vital role in keeping our grid reliable. There is absolutely no reason why such important projects should stay tangled up in red tape and economic progress should be constricted by bureaucratic nonsense,” he said.
RMA Minister Chris Bishop said Genesis applied for fast-track approval in April and the process took just 80 days once the expert panel was appointed.
Mortgage lending climbed by 21.1% year on year in September to $6.38 billion, though still about 5% off the peak lending period in 2021, reflecting increased market activity and borrowers refinancing for lower rates. Credit bureau Centrix said that pushed overall new household lending by 20.2%, helped by an increase of 10.3% increase in non-mortgage lending across credit cards, vehicle, and personal loans to $568 million for the month. The number of consumers behind on payments dropped to 11.99% after hitting a peak of 13.09% last January. Centrix noted that credit demand was also up 3.5%, led by a 31% jump in demand from the hospitality sector and a 21% increase from retail businesses. Centrix managing director Keith McLaughlin said there was some room for cautious optimism as the country headed into the final quarter of the year. "It will be interesting to see what impact changes to the Credit Contracts and Consumer Finance Act legislation will have in the coming months," he said.
Sirma Karapeeva.
Dairy prices have slipped again at the latest overnight auction, with key export commodity whole milk powder down 2.7% to US$3503 per metric tonne, marking the fifth consecutive decline. Most other products on offer experienced price drops, except for mozzarella and buttermilk powder. The overall GDT index declined 2.4% to US$3768 per metric tonne. ASB said the recent declines were consistent with its $9.75 per kg milk solids price forecast to farmers for the season. Last month, Fonterra’s shareholders strongly backed its $4.22 billion sale of Mainland Group at a special meeting. Proceeds from the sale of the business to French multinational Lactalis, expected to be completed in the first half of 2026, will partly be used to fund a capital return to shareholders of $2 a share, or $3.2b.
NZX-listed Santana Minerals has received a 30-year mining permit for its Bendigo-Ophir gold project in Central Otago. Santana applied for the permit in March and it was granted by the Ministry of Business Innovation & Employment on November 5, covering 3265ha. Santana on Monday filed an application for fast-track resource consent to mine at the project. The company said the application totalled 9400 pages and 135 reports covering water, ecology, landscape, heritage, air quality, economics, mine closure and rehabilitation.
The Commerce Commission has authorised an agreement among four electricity generator retailers – Genesis, Contact, Meridian and Mercury – delivering access to reserve capacity at Huntly Power Station. The deal, known as a Strategic Energy Reserve Huntly Firming Option, involves Contact, Meridian and Mercury paying annual fees to Genesis for 10 years in exchange for the ability to tap generation from Huntly’s coal and gas-fired Rankine Unit 2. Commission chair John Small said the public benefits of the arrangement probably outweighed the potential anti-competitive effects. “The commission is aware of the difficulties currently facing the electricity sector and, after thoroughly testing the impacts of this authorisation, believes there is significant public benefit in ensuring security of supply for New Zealanders during dry years,” he said. The commission said Genesis was working on ways to offer further reserve capacity to other customers and its progress would be monitored.
Shareholders of Allied Farmers have approved the $7.5 million sale of its livestock trading business to Christchurch-based Rural Livestock. A resolution on the transaction at Allied’s annual meeting on Thursday was passed by 96.4% of votes, with 3.6% against. Chair Shelley Ruha said the sale would allow the company to “redeploy the sale proceeds into investment opportunities that offer a stronger and more sustainable earnings profile”. In other resolutions, Ruha was re-elected to the board with a 99.9% vote, while the re-election of Phil Luscombe was passed by 88.6%, with 11.4% voting against.
Finaccess Restauració has cleared the 90% shareholding hurdle in its bid to take over Restaurant Brands. In September, the Mexican company offered to acquire the 25% of the fast food company it didn't already own for $5.05 per share. Although the price was below the $5.24 to $6.20 per share valuation range issued by independent adviser Calibre Partners, Restaurant Brands’ independent directors recommended shareholders accept the offer, saying the risks to shareholders “outweighed” the offer price. Today, Finaccess reported that it had reached the 90% threshold, giving it the right to compulsorily acquire the remaining shares from minority shareholders. It has indicated it intends to do so.
The Government has expanded the scope of the International Screen Production Rebate, in a move it says will ensure New Zealand continues to attract international productions.
Currently, international films and shows can receive a 20% rebate, which can increase to 25% if certain criteria are met.
Today’s changes will lower the minimum qualifying spend for feature films to $4m from $15m, reduce the threshold for the 5% uplift to $20m from $30m, expand eligibility for the uplift to include post-production, and remove the cap on costs for directors and principal cast.
The new settings will be funded through the 2025 Budget’s $577m increase to the rebate, which took total funding to $1.09b.
“These changes ensure New Zealand remains a serious contender in an increasingly competitive global screen industry,” Economic Growth Minister Nicola Willis said in a statement.
The New Zealand Film Commission has welcomed the update, saying it will open the door to a broader range of productions.
Philip Bowman.
Philip Bowman continues to grow his share of the Savor pie.
The Australian businessman and Sky TV chair has bolstered his shareholding in the NZX-listed hospitality group to more than 10%.
Bowman propelled his way up the list of Savor's largest shareholders last month, making multiple share acquisitions and growing his shareholding to about 8.3%.
Additional acquisitions have since increased his stake to 10.6%.
Bowman remains Savor's second-largest shareholder, behind H&G Ltd, an entity owned by NBR Rich Listers the Cushing Family, which holds 15.3%.
Briscoe Group reported a decline in sales, as the NZX-listed retailer prioritises stablising its gross margin.
Sales for the third quarter through to October 26 dropped close to 1.8% to $171 million.
The sale of homewares and sporting goods diverged, with homeware sales growing 1.8% but sporting goods sales dropping more than 7.3%.
Year-to-date sales for the group were down 0.71% to $542.3m.
Briscoe managing director Rod Duke said the third quarter presented a "mixed trading environment", with continued pressure on consumer sentiment and discretionary spending.
"Despite these challenges, the group remained focused on executing its strategic priorities, maintaining strong inventory discipline, and protecting gross profit margin performance."
Duke said the company had made a strategic decision to shift focus from driving top-line sales to stabilising gross profit margin percentage.
Seeka has responded to market speculation about an incident of fraud.
The NZX-listed horticulture and post-harvest company confirmed it had detected a series of invoicing irregularities, which were being investigated.
The total cost of the fraud was less than $350,000 and the impact on the current-year earnings was $200,000.
It was confirmed the fraud would not affect Seeka's net profit before tax guidance of between $39.0m and $43.0m.
Seeka reported the issue had been detected relatively early and the company was reviewing all payment processes to ensure the risk of fraud was minimised. "All relevant regulatory authorities have been notified, Seeka is pursuing full recovery, and the matter may be placed before the courts."
NZX-listed Colonial Motor Co hopes to cash in on rural sector strength and the eventual wider recovery in the New Zealand economy.
It held its annual meeting today and provided a trading update for the first quarter of the new financial year. Colonial was cautiously optimistic that the worst of the downturn was over.
It reported a positive start to the new financial year, with trading trending in the “right direction”, while noting the market and economy remained patchy.
There was still a noticeable two-speed economy between rural and urban areas.
“Lower interest rates and a degree of buoyancy in the agricultural sector can only be seen as a positive sign for New Zealand,” Colonial said.
Chair Ashley Waugh told shareholders that while the results were encouraging, it was too early to make a prediction or provide an update with certainty, “but, unlike my address to last year’s annual meeting, there do appear to be green shoots”.
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