Wednesday, 20 November 2019 11:16

Boo-hoo

Written by The Hound

font size decrease font size increase font size
Print
Email

OPINION: Your old mate can’t believe the gall of the NZ big banks crying about their ‘reduced’ profitability this year.

First out of the blocks was ANZ, shedding crocodile tears about how “tough things” had been in the past year and how it had only managed to make a profit of $1.825 billion for the year to September 30 on its NZ business -- an 8% drop on 2018.

The next big Aussie bank to publish its result was Westpac, with its NZ arm reporting a 3% lift in net profit to $964m, from $936m last year.

But this didn’t stop its $2.5m-a-year NZ boss decrying how business conditions had “deteriorated” in the second half of the reporting period, based largely on uncertainty about the outlook for next year.

Your canine crusader would be interested to know just how ANZ and Westpac are currently treating their rural/farming clients and how ‘tough’ they are making it for them.

Featured

Water reforms come at a cost

The government’s new freshwater laws, signed off this week, have the potential to create significant unnecessary costs for ratepayers, farmers and entire communities, Federated Farmers says.

2020 harvest yields up

Final harvest data for wheat, barley and oats (milling/malting and feed) in 2020 show yields were up 17% overall across the six crops.

Difficult but the right call

DairyNZ chief executive Dr Tim Mackle says the joint decision three years ago to eradicate Mycoplamsa bovis was a difficult call.

Virtual biosecurity refresher training

Cutting edge technology designed to simulate biosecurity threats has emerged from the collaboration of two Hamilton companies.

Milking cluster milks runner-up award

DeLaval has come away with the runner up prize in this year’s Fieldays Online innovation competition with a new milking cluster that eliminates the need for conventional liner changes.

Glow worms to cows

Thomas Lundman's work focus has gone from tracking tiny critters in pitch black caves to looking after considerably larger animals in paddocks near Whakatane.