Kiwi business still seeing the bright side, despite Covid-19

A global survey of companies by HSBC shows New Zealand businesses remain resilient and optimistic about their prospects despite the pandemic.

HSBC’s Navigator Survey involves interviews with more than 10,000 companies in 40 countries worldwide.

It has been running for many years on a six-monthly basis but this was the first time New Zealand corporates had been included, said HSBC New Zealand interim chief executive Rob Roughan.

About 50 New Zealand companies — from the largest corporates through to the mid-tier — had been surveyed.

About 36 per cent of local businesses were either already more profitable than last year or expected to be next year, the survey found. From a sales and revenue perspective, New Zealand business was broadly in line with the global trend revealed in the survey.

About 60 per cent of New Zealand companies expected sales to increase over the next year.

Thirty per cent of New Zealand firms expected in excess of 5 per cent sales growth next year.

One of the upsides for the New Zealand economy had been the strength of global trade through the pandemic, Roughan said.

“Clearly Covid had an impact on trade globally but given the depth of recessions we are seeing around the world, it has probably hit trade less severally than expected.”

Pre-Covid, the survey had found that 81 per cent of corporates had a positive outlook on their trade prospects.

That had only dropped to 70 per cent in the latest survey and the New Zealand companies’ responses were in line with that number.

Within the Asia-Pacific region there had also been an increase in companies looking to trade within the region — up from 67 per cent to 71 per cent.

“Coming just after the signing of RCEP [the trade deal] that’s a good sign of more Asian integration and New Zealand is part of that.”

The survey highlighted the fact that while “we’ve all been in the same storm, we’re not in the same boat”, Roughan said.

But it had been surprising to see how strongly some sectors, such as advertising and marketing sector had held up, he said.

There had been investment in marketing and advertising to help stimulate demand.

“At the less optimistic end, it has been the suspects that you’d suspect — automobiles, tourism and international education.”

One local quirk revealed in the survey was that New Zealand companies stood out in viewing company culture as the key determinant of a successful business in the future, Roughan said.

Forty-two per cent of local companies cited that as number one compared with just 2 per cent globally.

“That’s possibly signalling an evolution of thinking,” Roughan said.

We’ve all been in the same storm, we’re not in the same boat.

Rob Roughan, HSBC NZ