Page 19 - HW MAY 2019

stats watch Statswatch Feb-Mar 2019 FEB-MARCH HAS been positive, both for debt levels and for consents: • MarchdebtandDSOskickoff“recoveryseason”. • Februaryconsentskickyeartodatenumbersupanotch. MARCH MARKS “RECOVERY SEASON” DSO and debt levels for the March 2019 month, courtesy of CreditWorks Data Solutions (www.creditworks.co.nz), show signs of improvement or at least stasis. DSOs improve – Says CreditWorks’ Alan Johnston: “Nearly all sectors improved their DSOs, with the only exception being the Concrete sector.” This is unsurprising, he says: “March is traditionally the start of the ‘recovery season’ when figures all round generally start to improve.” Indeed, the current average overall DSO is back to 45 days which,saysCreditWorks,isprettymuchonparwithNovember lastyear,afterwhichtheystartedtodecline. Debt level static, for now – Overall debt, at $1.9 billion, is at thesamelevelasthistimelastyear.What’stheoutlook? SaysAlanJohnston:“WithAprilbeingashortmonth,Iwould expectaslightdropoffinthesefiguresuntiltheystarttoescalate again in May, with work levels likely to build even further over following months.” DOUBLE DIGITS IN FEB CONSENTS Consent data from Stats NZ (www.stats.govt.nz) for February 2019 released in mid-April show strong increases overall compared to the same month last year. Feb value growth – The value of February 2019’s residential consents at almost $1.3 billion was +14.4% on February 2018, while growth in the value of non-residential consents was equallybuoyant,at$596million(+13.3%). NosurprisethenthatthetotalvalueofconsentsinFebruary 2019 approached $1.9 billion and was +14.1% on the previous year. Feb volume a record – The number of new homes consented in February this year (3,098) was not only a big increase (+28.4%) on 2018 but also the largest February month since records began in 1966, says Stats NZ. This large gain was again thanks to apartments, specifically apartments in Auckland, which accounted for no less than 94% of February’s total of 446 consented. YTD Feb values solid – For the year to February 2019, the value of all consents was $21.8 billion (+6.5% on YTD February 2018), comprising: • Residential:$14.6billion(+6.6%). • Non-residential:$7.2billion(+6.3%). In the February 2019 year, the non-residential building types with the highest values were: • Shops,Restaurants&Bars:$1.1billion(+32%). • Education:$1.1billion(+0.9%). • Storage:$973million(+27%). To put YTD February 2019 into the context of the last five years: 2014 $8.2b +27% Non-residential $4.3b +13.8% $5.3b +21.1% $5.8b +9.8% $6.1b +5.3% $6.8b +11% $7.2b +6.3% Total $12.5b +22.1% $14.8b +18.3% $16.7b +12.9% $18.6b +11.2% $20.4b +9.8% $21.8b +6.5% Residential 2015 $9.6b +16.9% 2016 $10.9b +14.6% 2017 $12.6b +14.3% 2018 $13.7b +9.3% 2019 $14.6b +6.6% Intelligent Hardware Inventory Solutions SUPPLIERS AND MANUFACTURERS! Speak to us for solutions to your vendor refill and merchandising needs VRM provides us with a cost effective vendor refill solution that quite simply we would struggle to do. Their knowledge of the customers they service for us is at a high level and their comprehensive reporting would give any supplier complete confidence that they get the job done. I have no hesitation in recommending Derek and the VRM team. TONY SMITH, BUSINESS MANAGER, DISTRIBUTION – SIKA Ph: 0508 876 876 • Email: sales@vrm.net.nz • www.vrm.net.nz MORE AT www.facebook.com/nzhardwarejournal MAY 2019 | NZHJ 17 MPM 9006A 0218