Every Monday we post some thoughts in our Perriams Pacesetter, containing fresh thoughts for the week, the weekend just gone, and a bit of left field. Click below to read.
Perriams Pacesetter – 16 March 2026
Opinions
17th March 2026
TOPICAL
Big names like Heinz and Wattie’s closing their doors. These are high-profile reminders of the pressure many businesses are under. The NZ trading arm has reported annual losses over the last three years. Hard to believe with such an iconic brand as Wattie’s. Frozen veggies now from Greenland, maybe! It wasn’t so long ago that Cadbury closed the doors in Dunedin.
GEM
Yes, and about time! Effective 16 March 2026, gift card rules in New Zealand are changing to mandate a minimum 3-year expiry period for most gift cards and vouchers.
OF INTEREST
Can a motel/hotel charge you $20 or so for not doing the dishes? If it’s in their terms, then yes! But do they? And perhaps even more interesting is whether or not you always do the dishes before you leave?
QUESTION OF THE WEEK
War – is it about geography and advantages, just as much as it is about politics?
SPOTLIGHT
The price of fuel at the pump. A short-term and over or a much longer tail? Are we going to see carless days? Hard to believe that in today’s modern world there is talk that this could be likely!
THE MARKETS
Air NZ has planned their forecasts with an average price of US $85 per barrel on jet fuel for the first half of the year. This is now sitting at roughly 85% higher on their core cost, something which any business would find extremely hard to cope with without having to make considerable changes to one’s operation. Expect a hike on cost for your next travel abroad. And on the markets in general, the NZX has held up pretty well since the Iran war started with it only being down approximately 3.5% per month to date.
OCR 2.25% ↓ November 2025
CPI 3.1% ↑ January 2026
Unemployment 5.4% ↑ December 2025
House Price Movement 2.3% ↑ July 2024
Rent Price Movement 4.3% ↑ July 2024
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