The SME Stream Weekly Wrap - 13 March

Kia ora, and welcome to this mestream weekly wrap. My name is Willamina Okif, and I'm here

to wrap up all of the latest business news you need to know.

Now, as a small business owner myself, I know what it's like to do it all. It's hard

enough trying to keep up with your own day to day, let alone what's happening with the

economy and how it affects you. But don't worry, because that's where I come in. Pulling

together everything you need to know, all may have missed into a short, digestible,

audio snack. So you can stay informed, all while focusing on the tasks that matter most

to your business. This week, pressure is on the global economy as the middle-east conflict

continues, so can we keep weathering the storm? Teens of thousands of Air New Zealand customers

have their travel plans disrupted as fuel prices soar, and how to make your brand unforgettable.

Trade disruptions are being felt across the world with maritime traffic still at a stand

still through the Strait of Hormuz, placing a chokehold on the large amount of the world's

oil supply. Iran's heavily restricted the vital waterway and retaliation for ongoing

US and Israeli bombing. At the moment, you have about six and a half million barrels

of oil production, shatter, and that's really the key punch point for the global economy.

But as pressure on supply mounts, members of the International Energy Agency have unanimously

agreed to release 400 million barrels of oil reserves. That equates to about four days

worth, and is the largest ever-release of reserves in the agency's history.

Research company Wood McKenzie, chief analyst Simon Flowers, says 100 million barrels may

come through this month, but it might not bring immediate relief.

Which is up to a maximum of five million barrels per day, and it could be less than that,

but we lost 50 million barrels per day. So is there nothing like balancing the market?

Our associate Energy Minister, says New Zealand, will contribute to that by providing just

under 1.6 million barrels, or about six days worth. Right now, NBC is across petrol, diesel,

and jet fuel. New Zealand has over 30 days of stock in the country, and 22 days worth in

ships, heading here. Despite that buffer, though, more people have been panic-filling at petrol

stations as prices climb. Oil prices rose as high as $120 USD of barrel before dropping

back down this week, with why timeo groups saying there's been a 15-20% increase in demand

over the past week. Chief executive Simon Parram, says pump prices have gone up from about 10-20

cents later, because they buy their product on a weekly basis. We're buying the more expensive

product now, and I guess when you've got a short sharp increase like this, there's no escaping

the higher fuel prices. And a cut to the fuel excise tax is off the table, at least for now,

with Finance Minister Nicola Willis saying she believes we're in good shape to weather the

instability. But Labor leader Chris Hipkins is urging the government to keep all options on the

table, just like it did when prices shot up. Of course, the more we spend the more pressure we put

on inflation, which is already sitting above the Reserve Bank's target band. It's now thought the

conflict could continue to push it up even further, and ASB senior economist Kamundi says several

factors could be at play. There are a number of ways in which what we've seen now can flow through

into the pricing side of the economy, all of which we're watching really closely.

Unprecedented jet fuel prices are leading to extensive air New Zealand flight cancellations,

affecting tens of thousands of people. The airline expects to consolidate 1100 flights over the

next six to eight weeks, impacting around 44,000 passengers. Chief Executive Nikhil Ravi Shankar

says at this stage they're planning to cut frequencies rather than entire routes,

and would focus mostly on off-peak domestic services.

We are in daily, if not hourly, contact with our fuel suppliers. We're working really, really well

with Wellington on this and staying coordinated. He says most rescheduled customers will be

re-booked on a flight on the same day. It is of course already a challenging time for the airline,

though, which has suspended its second half earnings guidance after rejecting around a $59 million

million loss. Even if oil price comes down, it may take some time for that reduction crude to

actually be reflected in cheaper jet fuel. But aviation commentator Irene King says Air New Zealand

needs to look at other ways to cut costs. They really have never addressed the cost side of the

business post-COVID, and they really could get stuck in their labor costs astronomical.

Retailers are also paying close attention to the conflict.

Briscoe's group managing director Rod Jukes says the war's definitely an elephant in the room,

but it's early days. This particular time of year is our low season forum

reciting of overseas merchandise, but if it were to continue through two-up open November,

it would be a problem. And you can catch all of the full interviews

relating to the conflict in the Middle East and the SME stream.

Movement and housing affordability could spell good news for first-time buyers.

Cotality New Zealand's latest housing affordability report shows the national

valued income ratio has fallen to just 7.2 in the past quarter. That's the lowest it's been

in a decade, excluding a brief period in 2019. But property investors Federation Advocacy Manager

Mad Ball says it's still higher than the long-term national average of 6.8.

It's great to see that I'ma come down. That's good for New Zealand, good for young people

trying to buy a house, but it'd be nice if I drop down a little bit soon.

Getting more women to choose a high-growth Kiwi Saba fund could be key to helping close the

retirement savings gender gap. New data from Westpac shows a Kiwi Saba gender gap of about 14%

between men and women. While that's down from 17% in 2022, the gap is much bigger for men

and women aged in their 30s. Westpac General Manager of Product Sarah Hurn says women are

more likely to put more money in moderate and conservative funds. Everyone's different,

but on a whole Kiwi Saba is generally for the long term and that gives the opportunity

to look at making sure you've got a fun time. That can go for the long haul.

When the world appears to be imploding, it can be hard to know what the right move to take

is for your investments. So what do the professionals do in times of uncertainty?

Sam Dickey, a senior portfolio manager at Fisher funds, says the first thing he does is triage

his risk. So do I, if this gets worse, for example, in the risks manifest in many different ways,

other than just the obvious being oil, how am I positioned? If it gets much, much worse,

which of my companies are most at risk, most exposed to this? Do I have any positions in my portfolio

that I was kind of thinking about selling anyway? They were on the way out. They might have served

their purpose, that the thesis might have played out, or the thesis might have changed. So do I have

low conviction positions in my portfolio? But equally, you've got to be really symmetrical here. So

is there anything I was thinking about buying yesterday? And it's just gotten a whole lot cheaper

today. So those are the sort of things you do. It's triage your risk and look to pay both

defense if you don't think you're well-positioned, and offense if you think you are well-positioned.

You can listen to the full interview in the Prosperity Project in this MeStream.

It's a frustrating reality for many business owners. You sink a bunch of money into marketing,

only to find that people don't remember your brand when the time comes to buy. In this

week's episode of Bagged Happens, serial entrepreneur Eeloo breaks down the reasons why you're

getting lost in the noise and how to make your brand unforgettable. So instead of playing the

attention game, you should be playing the memory game. Getting attention is easy. Post a

controversial opinion, use a trending sound, create some clickbait content, jump on the latest

viral trend, and boom, you've got some eyeballs on, you've got some engagement. But the attention

is fleeting. It lasts seconds, maybe minutes, and it's gone. And your audience actually moves onto

the next shiny thing. Memory is where the money is. Memory is long term. Memory is what makes

someone choose you many months from now when they're ready to buy. So how do you build memory?

Find out in the latest episode in the MeStream. And that's it for the weekly wrap. We'll

be back again next Friday with all of the latest business news and of course the best bits in the

MeStream.