Best of Business

It's looking to be a rough season for our meat processing sector, with companies struggling to compete with abundant grass and a turbo-charged store stock market.
Some companies have dropped published lamb and beef schedules by 10c/kg, and the decline has prompted concerns.
The Country's Jamie Mackay explained further.
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So David Seymour’s right about Air New Zealand - but he’s also wrong about Air New Zealand.
Before we get to why, let me bring you up to speed on what’s happened with the airline today, because the news is not good.
Air New Zealand has posted a half-year result showing a $59 million pre-tax loss, which is slightly worse than expected. And to be fair to Air New Zealand, a lot of this really isn’t their fault.
They’ve had not one, but two engine types in their fleet causing them trouble. And the economic downturn we’re experiencing in New Zealand - the worst in most of our lifetimes, you have to go back more than 50 years to find anything as bad - directly affects their earnings.
If we don’t have money, we’re certainly not spending money on flights.
But some of this is their fault. They’re squandering customer loyalty with poor on-time performance and a tired, diminished Koru Club offering.
And this is where David Seymour is right when he says, “Go woke, go broke.”
Because part of the reason Air New Zealand is losing customers to Jetstar is that there are people who no longer want to pay for Koru Club. The offering has slid from the good old days. You can’t even - and this bugs people more than the airline ever seemed to realise - go into the lounge, ask for a coffee, and take it away like you can at a café.
There are no takeaway coffees because Air New Zealand doesn’t want paper cups going on planes. Paper cups are bad for the environment… when you’re flying planes.
They’ve wasted time and money trialling an electric aircraft they don’t actually know how to integrate into their fleet. And they’re constantly lecturing the government about sustainable aviation fuel - SAF - which is more expensive than standard jet fuel, and standard jet fuel is already extremely expensive right now.
But here’s where David Seymour is wrong - he says the solution is to sell down the Government’s 51 percent stake in Air New Zealand.
We can’t do that.
We are an isolated island nation. There are only two ways to get here - by boat or by plane, and we all know which one people actually use.
We need to own those planes to make sure they keep flying. If we learned anything during COVID, it’s that Air New Zealand effectively became a logistics lifeline and repatriation service for the entire country.
So yes, David Seymour is part right and part wrong. We do need Air New Zealand to stop the distractions and start doing its job properly. And we do need it to remain in New Zealand hands.
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Sky TV says even though it's had a strong first-half financial year result - the television market remains challenging.
It's reported a $52 million net profit, turning around a $1.7 million loss last period.
Its revenue rose eight percent, to about $414 million.
Sky TV chief executive Sophie Moloney says revenue for traditional TV was softer than expected.
"The TV side does seem to be suffering a bit more than others, so I do think it's incumbent on us to make sure that we're talking about that value and allowing our clients to see the benefits."
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Women are continuing to lag significantly behind men when it comes to home ownership.
Data from Cotality shows more than half of Gen Z men surveyed own their own home, while just a third of women do.
The disparity also exists amongst the millennial and Gen X age groups.
Cotality Chief Property Economist Kelvin Davidson says it's not an attitude issue.
"Females actually rate property ownership more important than males, pretty much across the spectrum. So this is about other things, monetary factors, there's unfortunately still that gender wage gap across New Zealand."
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Air New Zealand's assuring it's on track for economic stability.
The national airline's announced a first-half before-tax loss of $59 million.
CEO Nikhil Ravishankar says the result's driven by challenges from aircraft being grounded, a softer recovery than expected - and rising costs.
But he says they'll be well on the road to recovery over the next two to three years.
"One of the key reasons I say that so confidently is for the first time in six years, we've got new aircraft coming back into the fleet and we're solving engine issues."
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