JENNY RUTH: What use are ratings agencies in the time of covid-19?

Jenny Ruth
Mon, 23 Mar 2020

When the worsening coronavirus crisis shuts everything from borders to schools, and firms from airlines to your local cafe are staring at their businesses evaporating, are ratings agencies doing us a service by saying they're thinking of downgrading this or that company or country?Standard & Poor's Corp tells us it has placed the ratings of five Australian and three New Zealand airports on creditwatch negative, the first step towards downgrading their ratings.Given that both Australia and New Zealand have just shut their borders to anybody...

Try us for 10 days free

Each day we publish 10 to 20 originally-reported news stories on New Zealand business and the political economy.

You also get:

Instant alerts based on any keywords you choose.
A custom library of your saved stories.
An industry-leading search engine

After your trial subscriptions cost $24 a month or $249 a year.

If you don’t like our news service, we make it easy to quit with our one-button cancel.

Find out more

Primary Sector

China trade fears unmatched by good alternatives: report

Pattrick Smellie | Wed, 05 Aug 2020

Fears that New Zealand is overly reliant on trading with China ignore that there are few more attractive markets for many of the country's major exports, says a report by economic consultancy Sens...

Listed Companies

SFO-directed raid complicates Spark claim

Victoria Young | Wed, 05 Aug 2020

An accused co-conspirator has complained a Serious Fraud Office-ordered raid on his home has meant he can't comply with disclosure orders in a case brought by Spark New Zealand. The telco claims t...

Primary Sector

Farmers to get $122m in fertiliser cheques

Brent Melville | Wed, 05 Aug 2020

Fertiliser heavyweights Ballance Agri-Nutrients and Ravensdown have fought their way through the covid-19 response, kicking back rebates of $54 million and $68 million respectively to farmer-sharehold...

Partner content

Don’t fear the robots. How software can help your business succeed

New Zealand businesses are on the road to recovery from the economic impact of the Covid-19 crisis but they, like corporates around the world, are having to change their operational practices.

Partner content

After covid, contactless is key