Today in Business: September 2, 2025

Welcome to Today in Business - Powered by Spark for Business, an experimental AI podcast by the New Zealand Herald.
Each weekday, we bring you five stories, the best of the New Zealand Herald business journalism, summarised and delivered by an AI voice as an easily digestible recap.
It's Tuesday, September 2, 2025, and here are five stories you should know about.
Amazon Web Services has officially launched its new Auckland data centre, "Region," announcing a $7.5 billion investment in New Zealand. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon told attendees the project could create up to 1000 jobs and contribute an estimated $11 billion to GDP. Amazon says customers including Vector, Xero, Mercury, Foodstuffs, TVNZ and the Ministry of Transport will use the Auckland facilities. While Amazon owns land at Westgate, the company has not confirmed its build location, citing security policy. AWS also signed a power purchase agreement with Mercury Energy, securing renewable electricity from the Turitea South wind farm near Palmerston North.
In other news, long-running appliance and furniture retailer Smiths City has entered voluntary administration. All nine stores and their online operation have temporarily closed, with administrators from BDO Christchurch appointed. They say the company faced financial pressures and declining sales despite downsizing measures. Smiths City is now seeking urgent expressions of interest from potential buyers. Staff were informed during a meeting this morning, with the aim of reopening stores later this week. Customers with deposits will be contacted directly. The move follows investment company Polar Capital's 2020 acquisition of Smiths City in a deal worth around $60 million.
Meanwhile, new data from Centrix shows consumer arrears in New Zealand rose in July, with 480,000 people behind on payments, up 2000 from the prior month. Arrears affected 12.41 percent of the credit-active population. Morgidge arrears improved to 21,200 home loans past due, down 400 from June. Refinancing activity rose, with mortgage enquiries up 16 percent, while new lending increased 24.4 percent year on year. Company liquidations climbed 26 percent, led by construction, with 765 firms closing, up 46 percent. Hospitality followed with 297 liquidations, up 49 percent. Business credit defaults rose 8 percent, with manufacturing worst hit, up 19 percent compared with last year.
On the tourism front, Airbnb says it contributed $5.1 billion to New Zealand's economy in 2024, supporting 33,300 jobs and generating $1.8 billion in wages. Fifty-five percent of guests were domestic, rising from 43 percent in 2019, while Australia, the United States and China were the top international markets. Visitors stayed an average of three days and spent 380 dollars daily on food, shopping, entertainment and transport. Oxford Economics research found Airbnb helped spread tourism spending across regions, accounting for 8 percent of tourism-related employment. The platform also contributed over $1 billion each to transport, logistics and property services.
In regulatory news, Being AI has been fined $50,000 by the New Zealand Markets Disciplinary Tribunal for breaching NZX governance rules. The penalty relates to the resignation of two independent directors in January, which left the company without a properly constituted board and audit committee. Trading in Being AI shares was suspended on February 3 and resumed in April after three new directors were appointed. The tribunal says the breaches were serious and undermined market confidence, though it reduced the fine from 85,000 dollars due to mitigating factors including self-reporting. Being AI has agreed to cover investigation and tribunal costs.
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