Business 12 Ashburton Guardian
www.guardianonline.co.nz
Thursday, September 14, 2017
■ COMMERCE COMMISSION
Telcos dominate complaints By Paul McBeth The Commerce Commission’s annual consumer issues report shows telecommunications firms Vodafone New Zealand and Spark New Zealand still attract the most ire from their customers, although the rise of online shopping has seen a growing number of complaints in that space. The regulator plans to put greater emphasis on retail telco providers in the current year, as the most complained of sector attracted 603 complaints in the 2016/17 year out of 7270 total complaints. Of that, Vodafone was the most complained about with 186 complaints, followed closely by rival Spark at 180, about twice Two Degrees Mobile’s 88. The commission said about a quarter of those complaints were over incorrect billing and a fifth related to various fees charged, such as late payments, credit card use, or paper invoices. “Telecommunications continue to be the most complained
Vodafone – the business most complained about to the Commerce Commission. about industry with the number of complaints increasing by nearly a third on last year,” commissioner Anna Rawlings said in a statement. “This trend reinforces our decision to make retail telecommunications a priority focus area for the coming year across both our
Compiled by
Last sale
596 601 600 342 343 342 3230 3327 3308 103.5 104 103.5 124 125 125 638 645 638 290 295 292 387.5 392 387.5 750 755 755 538 544 544 1738 1747 1741 1296 1298 1296 802 807 805 613 615 613 777 793 787 243.5 244 244 125.5 126 125.5 185 184 183 315.5 316 315.5 135 136 135 215 223 215 136 136.5 136 2444 2452 2450 332 334 334 292 294 292 577 580 580 106 108 106 250 253 253 117 119 118 435 438 438 128 128.5 128 163 165 163 639 642 639 907 909 909 738 740 737 342 344 342 260 264 261 380 384 381 388.5 391 390 165 166 165 497 500 500 448 452 450 458 464 459 544 545 545 327 330 330 545 552 545 222 223.5 222 3360 3530 3496 2660 2744 2723 727 743 740
Daily Volume move ’000s
–6 –7.5 –3 +0.5 –1 –9 +7 +0.5 +5 +11 –4 +10 –11 –2 +8 +2 –0.5 +1 –0.5 –1 –6 +1 –3 –1.7 –1.5 – – +2 –1 – +1 –0.5 –7 +7 +1 – –9 –3 +1 –1 +3 +3 – +5 +9 – –2 –20 –25 –7
1.1m 1.0m 7.86 627.8 587.5 4.4m 1.2m 1.1m 6.11 786.6 179.6 4.5m 2.1m 161.3 178.5 347.8 561.5 129.5 176.8 329.3 60.35 1.6m 80.96 1.5m 446.0 434.6 146.8 147.9 247.9 159.9 1.2m 1.1m 34.09 610.3 2.65 61.56 215.5 712.4 2.4m 358.2 145.4 174.7 980.0 37.03 242.7 34.91 182.3 21.81 53.63 1.2m
S&P/NZX 50 Index Gross 7890 7856 7822 7788 7754 7720
8/9
Sell price
13/9
a2 Milk Company ATM Air NZ AIR ANZ Banking Gr ANZ Argosy Prop ARG Arvida Gr ARV Auckland Intl Airpt AIA CBL Corp CBL Chorus CNU Comvita CVT Contact Energy CEN Ebos Gr EBO F&P Healthcare FPH Fletcher Building FBU Fonterra Share Fund FSF Freightways FRE Genesis Energy GNE Goodman Prop Tr GMT Heartland Bank HBL Infratil IFT Investore Property IPL Kathmandu Hldgs KMD Kiwi Property Gr KPG Mainfreight MFT Mercury NZ MCY Meridian Energy MEL Metlifecare MET Metro Perf Glass MPG NZ Refining NZR NZX NZX Port of Tauranga POT Precinct Properties PCT Prop For Industry PFI Restaurant Brands RBD Ryman Healthcare RYM Sanford SAN Scales Corp SCL Sky Network TV SKT Sky City SKC Spark SPK Stride Prop & Inv SPG Summerset Gr Hldgs SUM Tourism Holdings THL Trade Me Gr TME TrustPower TPW Vector VCT Vista Gr Intl VGL Vital Hlth Prop Tr VHP Westpac Banking WBC Xero XRO Z Energy ZEL
Buy price
1/9
Company CODE
25/8
S&P/NZX 50 Index Gross constituents
At close of trading on Wednesday, September 13, 2017
18/8
NEW ZEALAND SHARE MARKET
ing attracting a similar increase in complaints, where consumers struggle to work out whether a vendor mispresented the price or goods or services sold compared to the experience in a physical outlet. “It is evident from some complaints that consumers have sub-
Butter dominates food costs rises
Guardian Shares & Investments Source: NZX and Standard & Poors
consumer and regulation work.” The consumer affairs and competition watchdog’s annual consumer issues report identifies current and emerging risks it sees as having the potential to affect consumers and markets. The report identified the continued growth in online spend-
sequently had doubts whether they purchased from a legitimate trader, particularly if the trader is based abroad and the consumer has been unable to make contact with the trader to resolve concerns about product delivery or quality,” the report said. Rawlings said “consumers need to research the traders they intend to buy from and pay attention to additional costs such as booking fees, the currency they are paying in, and whether the fine print discloses they have been signed up to a monthly subscription.” Appliance store retailers were the second most complained about industry with 403 complaints. Common themes to trigger complaints were misleading pricing practices, especially during advertised sales, and misrepresentations over the Consumer Guarantees Act when returning a faulty product. Warehouse Group-owned Noel Leeming topped the complaint board with 82, followed by rival Harvey Norman at 45. – NZME
q S&P/NZX 50 Gross
7,827.43 –12.98 –0.17%
q S&P/NZX 20 index
5,316.57
–15.78
–0.3%
q S&P/NZX All Gross
8,470.75 –11.81 –0.14%
p Rises 47 q Falls 57
WORLD MARKETS
q S&P/ASX 200 index
5,744.3
–2.1
–0.04%
At close of trading on Sep 13, 2017
p Dow Jones Indust.
22,118.9 +61.49 +0.28% At close of trading on Sep 12, 2017
New Zealand food prices rose in August, with fruit and vegetables, meat, and groceries such as butter more expensive than a year earlier. The food price index advanced 0.2 per cent on a seasonally adjusted basis in the month, and gained 2.3 per cent for the year to August, Statistics New Zealand said. Fruit and vegetables cost 5.5 per cent more than a year earlier, while meat, poultry and fish prices rose 0.6 per cent and grocery food prices increased 2.8 per cent. Butter prices hit a record high of $5.39 per block, up 11 per cent in the month and 62 per cent from a year earlier. The annual butter price increase is the largest in per entage terms since 2010, Stats NZ said. Chocolate prices also rose 3.4 per cent in the month. “We have seen butter prices ris-
ing lately due to New Zealand’s export driven market,” consumers price index manager Matthew Haigh said. “Butter prices have experienced all-time highs in the global market, and this also drives the price here at home.” Food prices account for about 19 per cent of the consumers price index, which is the Reserve Bank’s mandated inflation target when setting interest rates. A spike in food prices and a recovery in oil prices earlier this year led to a jump in inflation, which
has been subdued in recent years, however as those movements flatten out the pace of CPI increase is expected to slow in early 2018, the Reserve Bank has said. Vegetable prices increased 8.7 per cent on an annual basis, driven by higher prices for kumara, potatoes and cucumbers, and were up 5.4 per cent in the month. Fruit prices rose 0.3 per cent annually, but dropped 0.5 per cent in the month, as avocados and strawberries became cheaper in August. The price of chicken rose 3.3 per cent in the year to August 2017, but dropped 2.4 per cent in the month, while beef fell 2.6 per cent annually and was down 2.5 per cent on a monthly basis and pork dropped 8.6 per cent in the year. Restaurant meals and ready-toeat food prices rose 2.3 per cent on an annual basis. – NZME
q FTSE 100 index
7,400.7
–12.9
–0.17%
At close of trading on Sep 12, 2017
p Nikkei 225 index
19,865.8 +89.20 +0.45% At close of trading on Sep 13, 2017
METAL PRICES
Source: interest.co.nz
q Gold
1,326.50
London – $US/ounce
–7.7
–0.58%
q Silver London – $US/ounce
17.75
–0.1
–0.56%
6,601.0
–136.0
–2.02%
q Copper London – $US/tonne NZ DOLLAR
Source: BNZ
Country
As at 4pm Sep 13, 2017
Australia Canada China Euro Fiji Great Britain Japan Samoa South Africa Thailand United States
TT buy
0.9236 0.905 5.072 0.6236 1.5129 0.5585 82.14 1.8862 9.6509 24.52 0.7448
TT sell
0.8935 0.872 4.4543 0.597 1.3955 0.5393 78.73 1.6562 9.3025 23.36 0.7186
Disclaimer: NZX and MetService have endeavoured to ensure the correctness of the information; neither NZX, MetService related companies, nor this newspaper, nor any of their respective employees or agents make any representation as to its accuracy or reliability nor will they, to the extent permitted by law, be liable for any loss arising in any way from, or in connection with, errors or omissions in any information provided (including responsibility to any person by reason of negligence). Please note: All products and services are subject to change without notice.
Turners raise funds to boost growth Turners Automotive Group intends to raise as much as $30 million by selling new shares to help fund future growth and provide more liquidity for its stock. The Auckland-based company will raise $25 million through the placement of new ordinary shares at $3.02 apiece, which will be fully underwritten by the sole lead manager UBS New Zealand. It also plans to raise as much as $5 million through a non-underwritten share purchase plan which will be offered to eligible shareholders and convertible bond holders, it said in a statement. Its shares have been halted from trading on the NZX and ASX pending completion of the placement. They last traded at $3.36 on
the NZX. No price was available from the ASX where the stock was admitted for trading as a foreign exempt listing on July 27 to give it access to a larger capital market to support its growth. Turners said the funds raised from the share sale will provide it with capital for investment to fund strategic growth opportunities, including continued expansion of its finance book, which is adding about $10 million of receivables per month. It will also allow it to pursue strategic dealer and property acquisitions to grow the distribution network and capabilities of the automotive retail division, and increase its free float, providing greater liquidity for Turners’ investors and broadening the company’s
share register by introducing new shareholders. “The equity raising will enable Turners to fund its rapidly growing finance receivables, as well as provide capital for further strategic property and dealership acquisitions,” said chief executive Todd Hunter. He noted that the company’s recent acquisitions of Buy Right Cars and Autosure Insurance are both performing ahead of expectations. Turners said the new shares will be entitled to receive the company’s dividend for the first quarter of the 2018 financial year, which is expected to be no less than the year earlier 3 cents per share payment, provided they are held on the dividend record date. – NZME