Summary Vaccination centres all over NZ are getting ready for Super Saturday tomorrow, one of the last chances to get fully vaccinated by Christmas. Law firm Russell McVeigh is barring its doors to unvaccinated staff, visitors and clients in two weeks.
Super Saturday Tomorrow is the all-important big chance to start vaccination to be finished in time for Christmas. Super Saturday will take place across NZ, including inside an Air NZ Boeing 787 in Auckland. Free ice cream, coffee, hot chicken and chocolate fish, celebrity visits, sausage sizzles, live music and spot prizes are all on the menu at vaccination centres and mobile clinics across Auckland.
Pharmacy move Wesfarmers has until tomorrow to complete due diligence on Australian Pharmaceutical Industries. Wesfarmers owns Bunnings and Kmart and also has interests in other retail, chemical, fertiliser, industrial and safety products. A move into the pharmaceutical sector would be a first. They are up against rival Australian pharmacy group Sigma Healthcare, which has valued API slightly higher than Wesfarmers. API is running both offers alongside each other and will choose the best offer for shareholders.
Doors barred Law firm Russell McVeigh is banning unvaccinated staff, clients and visitors from Nov 1. A statement from the company said an anonymous survey of its staff, which showed 98% intended to get fully vaccinated and had had at least their first dose by the start of October. “Our board and partners strongly support vaccination as an important step to help New Zealand progress towards reducing the risk of covid-19 in our communities and enabling all of us to live and operate in a safer, more open environment and economy.”
Inspired by Mars A Christchurch startup developing carbon capture methods to help the fight against climate change has raised $1 million in a pre-seed funding round led by Icehouse Ventures with support from Outset Ventures. Aspiring Materials has developed three methods of extracting carbon from olivine rock. Olivine is the primary component of the Earth’s upper mantle. Aspiring Materials extracts minerals from olivine rocks including magnesium hydroxide, which it then takes and forms a powder that can be used to remove and solidify carbon dioxide (CO2) at sources of emission such as powerplant exhausts.
Good lesson It will be a good thing if Winton decides to go down the public markets' route to pay for an ever-swelling development footprint. Not only will it give the NZX another pure property play, sitting alongside Millennium & Copthorne-subsidiary CDL Investments, but it will bring another entrepreneurial spirit to the bourse that can sometimes feel like it’s lacking. In an ocean of information that’s often manicured beyond comprehension, clear communicators such as Don Braid, Rod Drury and Marko Bogoievski stand out for their directness. Hopefully, Winton’s Chris Meehan will be another in that vein if the residential and retirement village developer taps public investors for the $200 million to $400m of new equity it wants. Meehan says he has an aversion to borrowing and that being debt-free is his “happy place”, preferring equity to fund new developments as they get into the construction phase.
Test target missed The Ministry of Health’s covid test turnaround time has dropped below target, with some waiting up to two weeks for a result. The ministry could not answer Newshub's questions about the longest anyone had to wait for a test result. Eighty percent of results from nasal tests are supposed to come back within 24 hours, but that has slipped to 73%.
Guidance lags There is still no guidance for employers of health workers who are unsure which categories of employees are covered by a new mandate, as the Oct 30 deadline approaches for the last chance to get vaccinated in time for the Dec 1 implementation. Other businesses are also calling for wider mandatory vaccination A Simpson Grierson survey shows businesses want mandatory covid-19 vaccinations in all industries.
Promotions Four senior associates at Chapman Tripp have been recognised as leading practitioners in New Zealand’s legal profession with promotions to special counsel, appointments effective from 1 December 2021. Vonda Engels, Andrea Shepherd, Emma Dale, and Greer Fredricson are all based in the firm’s Auckland office. Chief executive partner Pip England said becoming a special counsel is no mean feat. "The quality, importance, and prominence of the work that each of our four candidates demonstrate, has proven them as a leading lawyer in their respective fields.”
Markets update US equities continue their volatility and are back on the rise, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average up 1.4%, the S&P 500 up 1.5% and the Nasdaq composite up 1.6% in midday trade. The rise comes after mixed reactions in the previous day’s trading to a surge in inflation and the release of Federal Reserve minutes showing officials discussing the potential for tapering stimulation. Falling jobless numbers underpinned the rise in confidence. European stocks rose amid expectations of a steady economic recovery from pandemic restrictions, despite continuing inflation. Mining and tech stocks led the pan-European Stoxx 600 up 1.2% with some analysts expecting third quarter earnings across the board to be up to 46.7% higher compared to the same time last year. AstraZeneca was down 0.5% after Europe’s drug regulator said it had started a review of AZ’s antibody-based covid-19 therapy. The FTSE 100 rose 0.92%. Rocketing prices for copper, aluminium, oil and natural gas are pulling commodity and energy stocks higher.
Crypto regulation The UK’s Bank of England deputy governor Jon Cunliffe has called for regulation of cryptocurrency as the coin’s value rises. A collapse could threaten the global economy either because indebted investors would have to find money to repay obligations, or because of a wider trader withdrawal from other assets deemed to have a similar kind of investor.
