Waikato Business News December 2017/January 2018

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16 WAIKATO BUSINESS NEWS December 2017/January 2018 GALLAGHER ROTARY AWARDS Gallagher Rotary Awards 2017 a shining success After 15 years of successes the Gallagher Rotary Awards 2017 shone as brightly as ever when the special celebration dinner was held late November. Industry and business leaders from throughout Waikato gathered at Wintec’s Atrium to shine the spotlight on their top employees. The award recipients and those just a ‘click’ away from winning came from sectors including engineering, plastics, construction, plumbing, manufacturing and personnel management. Event co-ordinator Des Meads of Frankton Rotary said the awards are an opportunity to encourage bright, up-andcoming employees to share a few moments of fame under the spotlight. “These are our future leaders,” said Des. “We believe it gives them an important lift to be chosen to attend an event such as this. “These young people, who lead by example, all come away with something to remember for the many hours of hard work they have put in to reach this pinnacle.” Des said it was humbling to be part of such a strong partnership between his Rotary Club and the supporting businesses such as naming sponsor Gallagher Group. Another strong supporter is CF Reese Plumbing and on the night managing director Aaron Rink began the award build-up process in memory of his company founder Colin Reese who was also a founding member of the Rotary Club of Frankton. C.F. Reese Plumbing Ltd. Gary Hutchings, Ashley Cheetham, Aaron Rink. THE WINNERS AND SPONSORS FOR THE 2017 AWARDS ARE: STAFFORD ENGINEERING LTD. TRT TIDD ROSS TODD LTD. Awardee - Ariel Arnaiz Awardee - Atul Angrish Awardee - Mandeep Virk Awardee - Takaaki Hatanaka SUCCESS GROUP Award - Commitment to Training Award 2017 Winner - Paul Poihipi Gallagher Group. L to R. Adele Wade, Mandeep Virk, Steven Brown, Atul Angrish, Ariel Arnaiz, Takaaki Hatanaka. Award - Trainee of the Year 2017 Winner - Max Bayley Finalist - Oliver Tizard Finalist - Jayden Vandy C.F. REESE PLUMBING LTD. Award - Colin Reese Memorial Scholarship Award 2017 Winner - Ashley Cheetham Award - TRT Apprentice of the Year 2017 Winner - Luke Martin Finalist - Kent Morley Finalist - Mathew Morgan GALLAGHER GROUP Award - The Gallagher Way Training Excellence Award 2017 CONVEX PLASTICS LTD. Award - Convex True Grit Award 2017 Awardee - Evan Bradley CONVEX PLASTICS LTD. Award - New Zealand Craftsman Training Award Awardee - Anthony Coffey 7 J7455P This prestigious event showcases companies committed to industry training and awarding their new or existing trainees, who have proven skills and passion, to achieve excellence within their chosen industry. AWARDS OBJECTIVES • Promote the trades • Acknowledge the importance of “skills” in industry • Provide the appropriate forum for the presentations • Link the community with the importance of trade skills • Assist awardees to achieve their desired careers • Showcase Rotary working in the community ABOUT THE EVENT • Started in 2003 with one award • Over 100 awards have been presented during the past Fourteen Years • Each Company has 10 minutes to promote themselves - including presenting their own awards • The event provides every emplouer in industry with an opportunity to recognise their employee’s training achievements • A unique opportunity to celebrate with your employee a life-long memory FOR MORE INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT... Robin Wilkinson (Treasurer, Rotary Club of Frankton) on robin@robinhood.net.nz or phone 07 854 6664 or 027 482 4745. Des Meads (Director, Rotary Club of Frankton) on desmond.meads@gmail.com or phone 07 853 2360 or mobile 021 0835 8312. The Gallagher Rotary Industry Awards rely on the active participation of all our Sponsors. Without their help we could not hold this annual event to celebrate “Excellence in Industry Training.” EVENT SPONSOR AWARDS SPONSORS SUPPORT SPONSORS Driving Excellence in Manufacturing Engineering Supporting the Gallagher Industry Awards 2012 TO ASHLEY CHEETHAM ON WINNING THE 2017 COLIN REESE MEMORIAL SCHOLARSHIP Applications now open for 2018 For more details visit www.cfreese.co.nz We are the residential and commercial maintenance experts There when you need us – since 1946. We offer a 24 hour emergency plumbing service across Hamilton and surrounding areas and we can be there in 60 minutes! 0800 460 247 info@cfreese.co.nz www.cfreese.co.nz | 32 Euclid Avenue, Te Rapa, Hamilton S8327C
WAIKATO BUSINESS NEWS December 2017/January 2018 17 Bitcoin: The Digital Goldrush? It seems everyone is talking about Bitcoin – this mysterious digital entity that has skyrocketed up in value more than 1000 percent in just a few months! But what is Bitcoin? Bitcoin is a currency. Traditionally currency is linked to countries – the British pound, the Canadian dollar, etc. Each country has its own banks where that currency can be deposited and withdrawn. Bitcoin is not linked to any country or bank, but is equally available to everyone on the planet. If there are no Bitcoin banks, where is it stored? Bitcoin may be more accurately described as a digital crypto-currency, meaning that every Bitcoin transaction is stored in a highly secure encrypted repository on the internet called the “block chain”. Every time a Bitcoin purchase is made, or a Bitcoin is bought or sold, a record of this transaction is encrypted and stored on the block chain. The block chain itself is stored and maintained by many hundreds of thousands of computers all around the world running the publicly available Bitcoin block chain software. People running this software are called “Bitcoin Miners”, and receive a small payment (in Bitcoin) as a reward for each transaction they process and enter into the block chain. How does this Bitcoin block chain keep track of my Bitcoins? Traditional banks link your bank balance and transaction history to an account number, which is in turn linked to you. In order to withdraw money from a bank account, you must prove to the bank that you are indeed the rightful owner of that bank account. This may involve you typing in a PIN number (something you know), or swiping an eftpos card (something you have). Once you have proved your identity, you are granted access to the bank account. With Bitcoin, you download and install a Bitcoin wallet app onto your PC or mobile phone. When you set this wallet up, you will be issued with a random set of 12 words which are known only to you. By knowing these 12 words, you prove your identity and gain access to the contents of the Bitcoin wallet. If you were to then buy some Bitcoin using this wallet, that transaction would be stored on the Bitcoin block chain and the wallet would store a link to that item in the block chain, meaning that you and you alone have ownership and access to that block chain item. You can think of a Bitcoin wallet as a place where you store your keys to get access to your block chain entries. A word of warning. If you were to lose your phone and have to reinstall your Bitcoin wallet on a new phone and you no longer knew the 12 secret words to your Bitcoin wallet then neither you nor anyone else will ever be able to recover your Bitcoin from the block chain! Those Bitcoin transactions become orphaned and are lost to you forever. How do I buy Bitcoin? If you have 100NZD, and wanted USD, you would need to go to a currency exchange, who – for a fee – would exchange your currency at the current exchange rate. Similarly, most Bitcoin wallets have a “buy Bitcoin” link, which will let you buy Bitcoin using your credit card. You need to be very wary indeed about who you hand over your credit card details to, as many stories are emerging of both scam sites falsely claiming to be “verified, certified Bitcoin exchanges”, as well as legitimate sites charging very high commission rates (10% anyone?) on the purchase (and then again on the sale) of Bitcoin. Once you purchase has been processed, your Bitcoin balance will be displayed in your wallet. How much is a Bitcoin worth compared with say USD? Council staff share some Christmas spirit The day after an arsonist destroyed three waka belonging to a Tuakau waka ama club last month, an annual hangi organised by staff at Waikato District Council turned into an impromptu fundraiser for the club, Waka Tangata o Te Ahinamai Te Toki ku Tuakau. Two staff bake sales later (one in the Ngaruawahia office and one in Tuakau) and a small hand-up from the Mayoral Fund saw Waikato District Council staff hand over a cheque for $1643.60 on December 21 to help the club with its own fundraising efforts. The cheque from council staff tops up a total of $7631 the club has raised so far on its Givealittle page. Council staff have been supporting local charities each month for the past few years by donating a gold coin in exchange for the opportunity to ‘dress down’ on a Friday. These charities have included local food banks, Blue Light that works with the police to deliver youth programmes, the Waikato Health Trust, Westpac Rescue Helicopter, and the Rural Support Trust and Rural Women New Zealand following storms early in the year that badly affected the local farming sector. The waka ama cause was added as an extra to the normal staff fundraising programme by waka ama enthusiasts among Council staff who were moved by the plight of the club’s 150 members including many children. There is a school of thought that says something is worth however much a buyer is willing to pay for it. One person may begrudgingly pay $100 for a painting, another may pay $1000 and be delighted with their purchase. In the example of shares, there is a case to made that the value of a share is a reflection of the underlying value of the company it is linked to. Bitcoin however is not linked to anything physical or real whatsoever! Over the past few months Bitcoin has ceased functioning as a currency and instead been hijacked by frenzied speculation – people buying it in the hope that it will go up in value and they can resell it for a fast buck. It is this speculation that has unhinged the value of Bitcoin from any form of reality and, ironically, rendered it useless as a currency because it is now so unstable. What does the future hold for Bitcoin? We pretty much all agree that crypto-currency is a great idea J3655P IT TIPS AND TRICKS > BY JON FEATHERSTONE Jon Featherstone is a director of Hamilton IT training company RightClick Training. Email jon@rightclick-training.co.nz or visit www.rightclick-training.co.nz and is the way of the future – but there are a mighty lot of wrinkles to get ironed out before we get there. Some predict Bitcoin will come crashing back down to earth as fast as it shot up, as speculators get the jitters and trigger a panic sell run. Others predict that Bitcoin will die out and be replaced with another crypto-currency (Ethereum? IOTA? Ripple?) which takes into account the lessons learnt and mistakes made with Bitcoin. Who knows? All anyone can say with any certainty is that we are living through the birth of a currency revolution that will fundamentally alter the way we buy and sell. Jon Featherstone is a director of Hamilton IT training company RightClick Training. Email jon@rightclick-training.co.nz or visit www.rightclick-training.co.nz Hamilton Monthly Property Report SNAP SHOT OF WHAT HAS BEEN HAPPENING IN THE MARKET PLACE OVER THE PAST MONTH. The median price across the Waikato region rose $20,000 compared to November 2016. Compared to October 2017 the median price decreased $14,000 with strong decreases in Otorohanga and Hauraki (-17% and -10% respectively). Compared to October, sales volumes rose 12%, with sales increasing 66% in Waikato District and 61% in Hauraki. Compared to November 2016, sales across the region fell 15% with sales falling in Otorohanga and Hamilton City (-25% and -23%). The median number of days to sell eased by one day compared to October, from 36 days in October to 37 days in November. The median number of days to sell eased by three days compared to November 2016. Over the past 10 years the average number of days to sell during November for Waikato has been 43 days. “The Waikato market remains steady and consistent, although over the last few weeks we’ve seen the usual summer rush in order to attract viewings from out of town visitors over the summer holiday period. There are still not enough listings at the lower end of the market for first time buyers and there is a lack of suitably priced homes, as we’re still seeing a number of vendors anticipating higher prices from Auckland buyers. Over the next few months, the relaxing of the LVR rules should help the investor market increase slightly and restore a little more confidence to the market.” Philip Searle, REINZ Regional Director. Obviously the statistics contained within this article represent only a small fraction of the data I have at my fingertips. For more information relevant to your street or your property, call and ask for one of our team. P 07 834 9570 M 027 801 9962 F 07 854 3837 VISIT www.eves.co.nz Hamilton City By Greg Petrin Rototuna branch manager Local market facts Sales November 2017 Sales November 2016 Under $200k* 0 2 $200 - $299k* 5 11 $300 - $399k* 40 53 $400 - $499k* 66 87 $500 - $599k* 56 66 $600 - $699k* 36 55 $700 - $999k* 27 34 $800 - $999k* 26 23 $1,000,000 - $1,999,999* 9 11 $2m+* 1 0 Total number of sales* 266 342 Median sale price* $532,500 $527,000 Median days to sell* 35 34 *Statistical Information Derived From The Real Estate Institute Of New Zealand. Realty Services Ltd/Success Realty Ltd and any contractor/employee is merely passing over the information. We cannot guarantee its accuracy and reliability as we have not checked, audited or reviewed the information and all intending purchasers are advised to conduct their own due diligence investigation into the same. To the maximum extent permitted by law Realty Services Ltd/Success Realty Ltd and its contractors/employees do not accept any responsibility to any person for the accuracy of the information herein.
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Waikato Business News December 2017/January 2018

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