For most New Zealand companies the end of the 2016/2017 financial year looms just around the corner and whether this year concludes in a good or bad result is well unknown, or is it? Rest assured company directors and board members alike will have more than a gut feel on the years’ performance because now’s the time in which next years (IT) Information Technology and Capital Expenditure budgets alike are being prepared for better or for worse.

In this blog we take liberty to look at the now on aggregates, agriculture and refuse industries. We reference some exciting stories that have recently hit common media platforms with our challenge to you; to forecast the positive or negative of their financial year ahead.

Aggregate Acquisition Completed

Fletcher Building Limited (Fletcher Building) announces it has completed the transaction to acquire New Zealand and Fiji road construction and maintenance business Higgins for a purchase price of NZ$303 million.

The businesses acquired as part of this transaction comprise principally of:

  • Higgins’ road construction and maintenance operations in New Zealand, including asphalt and bitumen plants
  • Road construction and maintenance operations in Fiji
  • Higgins’ aggregates business (excluding the Horokiwi Quarry, a Wellington based joint-venture)

Agriculture Early Interim Rebate

Once again returning an early interim rebate of $20 cash per tonne to be paid to transacting shareholders in early June*.

“By guaranteeing an early interim $20 per tonne cash rebate, we are able to give farmers greater confidence to invest in their capital inputs. It’s about passing on value when it’s needed, which is all a part of our strategy to help our shareholders farm with greater certainty,” says Greg Campbell,  CEO, Ravensdown.

With a strong profit forecast position at the end of February (2017), in addition to progress made over the past four years, means an early interim cash rebate is possible for payment for farmers in early June this year.

WrightZone Blog

Refuse Overcharges on Rubbish

A faulty weighbridge at the Putaruru Transfer Station has potentially been overcharging people for almost a year.

South Waikato District Council assets group manager Ted Anderson said two complaints from customers alerted the council to a potential issue last week after they noticed their rates for weight were out of whack.

“The weighbridges in Putaruru and Tokoroa are tested and re-calibrated annually as per regulation 20 of the Weights and Measures Regulations 1999,” Anderson said.

Repair work was expected to be carried out but will take several months to be fully investigated and completed. The cost and extent is still unclear.

Knowledge Sharing

You Decide?

From the four articles discussed, provided from a range of media sources which aggregate, agriculture and/or refuse companies look to have a positive or negative start to the 2017/2018 financial year ahead and why?

From Refuse to Aggregate

A New Zealand company is turning plastic waste into high-quality concrete aggregate.

Plazrok, the brainchild of south Auckland-based company Enviroplaz, is unique in that it can transform absolutely any type of plastic into a rock-like substance that forms the aggregate of concrete.

“We don’t take the labels off, we don’t have to disassemble it or take any of the other components off it, we can use it in its entirety,” said Enviroplaz founding director Peter Barrow. Concrete that is 10 to 40 per cent lighter than usual spells savings.

“For example, when they were building Britomart … there were 7000 truck movements between Wiri and Britomart in order to deliver that concrete. If you decreased the weight by 20 per cent you’ve dropped that down to 5000 trips. Think about what that does for your industry, for the roads, for your diesel usage, for your tyre savings,” Barrow said.

QuarryNZ Conference 2017

The QuarryNZ 2017 Local Organizing Committee invite all Delegates, Partners, Sponsors and Distributors to attend the 2017 QuarryNZ conference.  The Conference will be held in Auckland at the ANZ Viaduct Events Centre between the 19th and 21st July 2017.