NZX boss ‘sorry’ over shutdown
Retailer’s flagship store ready to opens its doors Fletcher appointment part of board refresh
NZX chief executive Mark Peterson is “deeply apologetic” about an internal mistake that shut down trading for most of Tuesday.
Trading through New Zealand’s stockmarket stopped around 11.15am when an error was made during normal system testing, Peterson said. Efforts to restart trading got close in the late afternoon, but lingering uncertainties meant NZX chose not to turn it back on. Derivatives trading resumed at 6.10pm and the cash market re-opened yesterday.
NZX is investigating the cause and Peterson said a report should be completed in a week.
“It’s not good enough — it doesn’t meet the standard we set and we understand the seriousness and broader impact on things,” he said.
He said the Nasdaq X-stream trading system wasn’t at fault and NZX has had a “very stable trading system”.
The stock market operator introduced the Nasdaq system in
2014, which let it branch into new securities trading such as derivatives and commodities. It extended trading hours for its dairy derivatives market NZX chief executive Mark Peterson. Fashion retailer H&M opens the doors to its long-awaited flagship store in Commercial Bay today.
The Swedish retailer is the first to open in the $1 billion property development on Auckland’s Waterfront, with other retailers not set to open until September next year.
The 3500sq m store on the corner of Queen and Customs St is its largest to date in New Zealand and is spread across four levels.
It will be H&M’s first Auckland CBD store, and the first Auckland shop to showcase its homeware range sold.
The retailer is expecting floods of shoppers to come through today.
“I think we will have a nice line here on Thursday,” Hans Andersson, H&M country manager, said.
“We hope to positively surprise people with something for everyone.”
Andersson said he believed the opening would benefit the local retail sector.
“It will attract more retail to the CBD because business drives business.”
First Retail Group managing director Chris Wilkinson said the H&M Commercial Bay store, which will be manned by 200 staff, would revive shopping in downtown Auckland. in July to reach more traders in Asia and Europe. The Financial Markets Authority’s 2017 review of the market operator said NZX needs sufficient technological resources to operate the markets properly.
It identified two trading system incidents in the year that had a total impact on the market of between 30 and 180 minutes but didn’t think either indicated a failure to maintain market infrastructure.
“The store opening is an important step in re-engaging consumers with that corner — which has in the past been a busy and successful retail destination,” Wilkinson said.
“H&M will be a traffic driver to the wider shopping and hospitality offering in Commercial Bay, once that completes, however the earlier opening of this gateway site will get people reorientated that way.”
H&M has plans to open more stores in “smaller cities” before it introduces its e-commerce store in New Zealand.
The flagship store was the type it would like to roll out to other parts of the country, Andersson said.
“Before we do online, before we do stores in other smaller cities, we want people to have a chance to connect to H&M.
“And I think you can’t connect better than in a bricks and mortar store that offers the whole range,” he said.
Online makes up 10 per cent of H&M’s global sales.
H&M has been operating in New Zealand for almost two years, with stores in Wellington, Christchurch and Auckland’s Sylvia Park.
It opened its first New Zealand store in Mt Wellington in October 2016.
The retailer has 4700 stores spread across 70 countries. Fletcher Building has completed a boardroom refresh appointing Australian Martin Brydon as a nonexecutive director from next month, says outgoing chair Ralph Norris.
Brydon is managing director of ASX100 building products company Adelaide Brighton, where he will finish later this year, Fletcher Building said in a statement.
“Our new strategy focuses Fletcher Building on the New Zealand and Australian markets, and we believe the addition of a director with such extensive experience in Australia will be a valuable addition to our board,” said Norris. Last week, Fletcher Building reported an annual loss after overhauling the business in the wake of steep losses in its Building + Interiors unit due to delays and cost overruns on several major construction projects.
In June, Norris announced the board’s audit and risk committee chair Bruce Hassall would succeed him, and that four new independent directors had been appointed from September. Brydon’s appointment “now completes our planned refresh,” said Norris.