Latest news with #Newlands
RNZ News
a day ago
- Climate
- RNZ News
School roof lifted and twisted in storm gales, house roof dumped blocks away
Konini Primary School in Wainuiomata had to be closed on Thursday, after the roof of its library was lifted in a storm. Photo: Supplied Strong winds have lifted and twisted the roof of a school library, and torn the roof off a house, dumping it blocks away, as wild weather sweeps across the country. Wild weather has been felt through much of the country, with strong winds taking out power lines at a number of places in the North Island, leaving hundreds without power. Emergency services responded to 58 callouts for the top of the North Island, mostly for flooding and fallen trees. In the Wellington suburb of Newlands a duplex in Sunhaven Drive was left uninhabitable when the roof was torn off it, and the residents had to be evacuated. Firefighters worked at the scene in the early hours of Thursday morning, tying what they could of the roof down, but a lot of it ended up on another street two blocks away. A house in Newlands had its roof torn apart in strong winds. Photo: RNZ/Mark Papalii Just over 15km away, in the Lower Hutt suburb of Wainuiomata, the library at Konini Primary School was lifted in the storm overnight, between Wednesday and Thursday. Pictures showed massive steel sheets and timber support beams twisted high up above the building. The roof at Konini Primary School was badly damaged. Photo: Supplied Parents with children at the school were warned to keep their tamariki home for the day: "Overnight weather conditions have caused major damage to the roof of the library, and it is at risk of coming off," the school said on Facebook, on Thursday morning. "Due to current winds the fire service are unable to secure the roof safely." However, during the day teams were able to repair the roof and waterproof it, and parents were told the rest of the school would be open on Friday: "Still lots of work to get our library and resource room usable, but it is safe for students to return to tomorrow." In Newlands, a neighbour of the Sunhaven Drive duplex that lost its roof said he had been woken by loud bangs in the early hours, as debris hit his house. Bingo Jayme said the corrugated iron structure was torn away and flew over trees and neighbouring homes, before coming down, just after 2am. He had struggled to understand what had happened as he searched his property by torchlight in the darkness. "I think somebody was watching over us up there, because if this landed in the middle of our bedroom there's a chance it would have ... you know. "It was very loud and it's the entire roof all the way there." From the scene, RNZ reporter Ruth Hill said the roof looked like it had been peeled back, and there were are bits of insulation blowing all over the road. The roof from the Sunhaven Drive house was blown onto a property in Tamworth Crescent. Photo: RNZ/Mark Papalii The damaged Sunhaven Drive duplex had pieces of roofing timber sticking up into the air and a council building inspector was looking at the property. But, "I can't see them being able to come home anytime soon though, they have no roof," Hill said. Insulation on the roadside after the Newlands house had its roof ripped off in strong winds. Photo: RNZ/Mark Papalii Deanna Jones, who lives directly across the road from the house on Sunhaven Drive was woken at 2am by a loud noise. "I heard it lifting off. A bit of wood came off and landed in the cul-de-sac. I think we've got some debris down the back because I heard it coming down our driveway." Two fire crews were on the scene until about 3.30am. "I think they were trying to work out how to secure it, because it's a two-storey property." Her neighbour, Tiff Bock, was oblivious to the drama overnight. "I woke up this morning and saw bits of insulation everywhere on the house, and I thought 'Oh, have I lost a bit of roof'?'. "Then I looked out the window." She was horrified to learn the roof had ended up on Tamworth Crescent, on the hill below her own home. "It's going to be a bit of mess to clean up." Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
RNZ News
2 days ago
- Climate
- RNZ News
Wind throws Wellington roof across suburb onto another house
A house in Newlands had its roof torn in strong winds. Photo: RNZ/Mark Papalii Strong winds tore the roof off a house in Wellington as wild weather swept the country. The house in the suburb of Newlands was left uninhabitable, and the residents of the Sunhaven Drive duplex had to be evacuated. The Fire Service was at there overnight tying the roof down, but lot of it ended up on another street two blocks away. A neighbour was woken by loud bangs about 2am on Thursday as the debris hit her house. RNZ reporter Ruth Hill said the debris it was on top of the roof of another house which was miraculously undamaged. "It really flew some distance." "There are bits of insulation blowing all over the road, and the roof looks like it's been peeled back," Hill said. The house in Sunhaven Drive, Newlands, had had its roof blown over to a nearby property in Tamworth Crescent. Photo: RNZ/Mark Papalii The damaged house on Sunhaven Drive had pieces of roofing timber sticking up into the air and a council building inspector was looking at the property. "I can't see them being able to come home anytime soon though, they have no roof," Hill said. While the wind was still strong she says it has stopped raining by about 7.30am. The stormy weather overnight led to 58 callouts for the top of the North Island, mostly for flooding and fallen trees. People in an area north of Turangi are being asked to prepare to self-evacuate due to fears the Tauranga-Taupō River will breach its banks. Insulation on the roadside after the Newlands house had its roof ripped off in strong winds. Photo: RNZ/Mark Papalii Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
RNZ News
2 days ago
- Climate
- RNZ News
Live: Gales hit Wellington, roof ripped off, cold snap for South Island
Strong winds have lifted the roof of a house in the Wellington suburb of Newlands to land on a house on another street. The gales followed a night of heavy rain, thunderstorm warnings and strong winds across much of the country. MetService said the downpours across the North Island and parts of the South Island were giving way to snowfall on Wednesday night. Last night, Fire and Emergency crews responded to over 30 weather related callouts as thunderstorms lashed the top of the country. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
NBC News
06-05-2025
- Business
- NBC News
Hispanic shoppers are spending less on groceries, putting pressure on consumer companies
Hispanic consumers are cutting back their grocery spending on everything from beer to cooking spray, executives said during recent earnings calls. Coca-Cola, Constellation Brands and Colgate-Palmolive are among the companies that have reported a slowdown in North American sales from Hispanic shoppers. A fifth of the U.S. population identifies as Hispanic or Latino, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Hispanics are now the second-largest demographic in the U.S. and the second-fastest growing ethnic group, agency data shows. As the population of Hispanic consumers grows, so does their purchasing power — and their contribution to companies' bottom lines. According to the latest data from economic think tank Latino Donor Collaborative, the U.S. Latino economy grew to $3.6 trillion in 2022, up from $3.2 trillion the prior year. And when it comes to shopping, Hispanic Americans overall spend more on consumer packaged goods and outpace non-Hispanic consumers, according to market research firm Circana. But the White House's hard-line immigration stance and broader economic concerns have led some Hispanic consumers to pull back their spending. Hispanic consumers drove a sharp decline in consumer net purchase intent in January, although the trend moderated in February, according to a research note from Goldman Sachs, citing HundredX data. The metric refers to the ratio of customers who intend to buy more from a brand subtracted from those who plan to buy less. A contributing factor to the dip, some experts say, is fear around stricter immigration policy. While the Trump administration has deported fewer people than President Joe Biden's administration during the year-ago period, reports from Immigration and Customs Enforcement show it is holding 10% more detainees than it was under Biden. Fewer occasions to spend Hispanic consumers helped Constellation Brands' Modelo Especial overtake Bud Light as the nation's top-selling beer. More than 50% of Modelo drinkers are Hispanic, according to CEO Bill Newlands. But Constellation provided a weaker-than-expected outlook for its fiscal 2026, citing both tariffs and diminished spending from Hispanic consumers. 'The fact is, a lot of consumers in the Hispanic community are concerned right now. … Over half are concerned relative to immigration issues and how those impact [them]. A number of them are concerned about job losses in industries that have a high Latino employment base,' Newlands said on the company's conference call in early April. The Latino unemployment rate ticked up to a seasonally adjusted 5.2% in April, from 4.8% a year earlier and 5.1% in March, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. 'Things like social gatherings, an area where the Hispanic consumer often consumes beer, are declining today,' Newlands added. Constellation, which also owns Corona, has repeatedly self-reported that Hispanic Americans make up roughly half of the company's overall beer business. Hispanic- and Latino-identifying customers accounted for 32.5% of Constellation Brands' sales in 2023, according to data from consumer research firm Numerator and investment bank Jefferies. And Constellation isn't the only brewer seeing a downturn. Sam Adams' owner Boston Beer referred to a similar decline in its quarterly report. 'The macroeconomic winds are obviously the consumer confidence, the fear of inflation; there is also some pullback from the Hispanic consumers that they're just not going out as much,' said Boston Beer CEO Michael Spillane. Hispanic consumers are also pulling back on their non-alcoholic beverage purchases. Spending by Hispanic consumers has softened over the last couple of months, Keurig Dr Pepper CEO Tim Cofer said on the company's conference call in late April. 'When you dig into that, you see that manifesting both in terms of fewer trips and lower spend per trip,' he told analysts. Hispanic consumers make up 'a meaningful percentage' of Keurig Dr Pepper's business and broader consumer packaged goods category, according to Cofer. The company owns brands popular with Hispanic consumers like Squirt soda, Peñafiel mineral water and Clamato, which can be mixed with beer to make micheladas. Still, the slowdown was not enough to cause Keurig Dr Pepper to lower its full-year outlook. Rival Coca-Cola also didn't trim its forecast, but it is prioritizing winning back Hispanic consumers next quarter. For years, the company has targeted Latinos through advertising and acquisitions, like the 2017 purchase of Mexico's Topo Chico. Mexico is also a top market for its namesake beverage. But this quarter, executives said weaker traffic from Hispanic shoppers weighed on its North American volume, fueled in part by a boycott. In February, rumors spread on social media that Coke had reported undocumented workers to U.S. immigration authorities. Coke denied the accusations, but CEO James Quincey said last week that the 'completely false' videos hurt traffic, particularly in Southern states. And Coke is seeing additional fallout south of the border from the tensions around the Trump administration's policies. 'Some of the geopolitical tension and Hispanic pullback also affected the Mexican [market], particularly the border region, which is very connected to the U.S.,' Quincey told analysts on the company's conference call. Beyond the beverage aisle The pullback from Hispanic consumers didn't just hit the beverage aisle. Other parts of the grocery store are feeling the heat, too. Associated British Foods saw the pullback hit U.S. sales of its Mazola cooking oils, which is the country's top-selling oil brand. 'It's a bit miserable at the moment because our key customer is Hispanic and is feeling nervous and fearful, and they're cutting back on expenditure. It feels really recessionary in parts of the U.S. market,' CEO George Weston said on the company's conference call on Thursday. Colgate-Palmolive also saw lower traffic from Hispanic consumers all across the business, the company's chief investor relations officer, John Faucher, said at the UBS Global Consumer and Retail Conference in March. The company on April 25 reported a 2.3% decline in North American volume for the first quarter. Still, Walmart, the nation's largest grocer, said the Trump's administration's immigration policy hasn't resulted in anything worth sharing yet. earnings call in mid-February.
CNBC
06-05-2025
- Business
- CNBC
Hispanic shoppers are spending less on groceries, putting pressure on consumer companies
Miami, Hialeah Gardens, Florida, Walmart Supercenter, checkout line cashier, customers paying. Hispanic consumers are cutting back their grocery spending on everything from beer to cooking spray, executives said during recent earnings calls. Coca-Cola , Constellation Brands and Colgate-Palmolive are among the companies that have reported a slowdown in North American sales from Hispanic shoppers. A fifth of the U.S. population identifies as Hispanic or Latino, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Hispanics are now the second-largest demographic in the U.S. and the second-fastest growing ethnic group, agency data shows. As the population of Hispanic consumers grows, so does their purchasing power — and their contribution to companies' bottom lines. According to the latest data from economic think tank Latino Donor Collaborative, the U.S. Latino economy grew to $3.6 trillion in 2022, up from $3.2 trillion the prior year. And when it comes to shopping, Hispanic Americans overall spend more on consumer packaged goods and outpace non-Hispanic consumers, according to market research firm Circana. But the White House's hard-line immigration stance and broader economic concerns have led some Hispanic consumers to pull back their spending. Hispanic consumers drove a sharp decline in consumer net purchase intent in January, although the trend moderated in February, according to a research note from Goldman Sachs, citing HundredX data. The metric refers to the ratio of customers who intend to buy more from a brand subtracted from those who plan to buy less. A contributing factor to the dip, some experts say, is fear around stricter immigration policy. While the Trump administration has deported fewer people than President Joe Biden's administration during the year-ago period, reports from Immigration and Customs Enforcement show it is holding 10% more detainees than it was under Biden. Hispanic consumers helped Constellation Brands' Modelo Especial overtake Bud Light as the nation's top-selling beer. More than 50% of Modelo drinkers are Hispanic, according to CEO Bill Newlands. But Constellation provided a weaker-than-expected outlook for its fiscal 2026, citing both tariffs and diminished pending from Hispanic consumers. "The fact is, a lot of consumers in the Hispanic community are concerned right now. … Over half are concerned relative to immigration issues and how those impact [them]. A number of them are concerned about job losses in industries that have a high Latino employment base," Newlands said on the company's conference call in early April. The Latino unemployment rate ticked up to a seasonally adjusted 5.2% in April, from 4.8% a year earlier and 5.1% in March, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. "Things like social gatherings, an area where the Hispanic consumer often consumes beer, are declining today," Newlands added. Corona and Modelo beers from Mexico are displayed for sale at a Whole Foods store on Feb. 3, 2025 in New York City. Constellation, which also owns Corona, has repeatedly self-reported that Hispanic Americans make up roughly half of the company's overall beer business. Hispanic- and Latino-identifying customers accounted for 32.5% of Constellation Brands' sales in 2023, according to data from consumer research firm Numerator and investment bank Jefferies. And Constellation isn't the only brewer seeing a downturn. Sam Adams' owner Boston Beer referred to a similar decline in its quarterly report. "The macroeconomic winds are obviously the consumer confidence, the fear of inflation; there is also some pullback from the Hispanic consumers that they're just not going out as much," said Boston Beer CEO Michael Spillane. Hispanic consumers are also pulling back on their non-alcoholic beverage purchases. Spending by Hispanic consumers has softened over the last couple of months, Keurig Dr Pepper CEO Tim Cofer said on the company's conference call in late April. "When you dig into that, you see that manifesting both in terms of fewer trips and lower spend per trip," he told analysts. Hispanic consumers make up "a meaningful percentage" of Keurig Dr Pepper's business and broader consumer packaged goods category, according to Cofer. The company owns brands popular with Hispanic consumers like Squirt soda, Peñafiel mineral water and Clamato, which can be mixed with beer to make micheladas. Still, the slowdown was not enough to cause Keurig Dr Pepper to lower its full-year outlook. Rival Coca-Cola also didn't trim its forecast, but it is prioritizing winning back Hispanic consumers next quarter. For years, the company has targeted Latinos through advertising and acquisitions, like the 2017 purchase of Mexico's Topo Chico. Mexico is also a top market for its namesake beverage. But this quarter, executives said weaker traffic from Hispanic shoppers weighed on its North American volume, fueled in part by a boycott. In February, rumors spread on social media that Coke had reported undocumented workers to U.S. immigration authorities. Coke denied the accusations, but CEO James Quincey said last week that the "completely false" videos hurt traffic, particularly in Southern states. And Coke is seeing additional fallout south of the border from the tensions around the Trump administration's policies. "Some of the geopolitical tension and Hispanic pullback also affected the Mexican [market], particularly the border region, which is very connected to the U.S.," Quincey told analysts on the company's conference call. The pullback from Hispanic consumers didn't just hit the beverage aisle. Other parts of the grocery store are feeling the heat, too. Associated British Foods saw the pullback hit U.S. sales of its Mazola cooking oils, which is the country's top-selling oil brand. "It's a bit miserable at the moment because our key customer is Hispanic and is feeling nervous and fearful, and they're cutting back on expenditure. It feels really recessionary in parts of the U.S. market," CEO George Weston said on the company's conference call on Thursday. Colgate-Palmolive also saw lower traffic from Hispanic consumers all across the business, the company's chief investor relations officer, John Faucher, said at the UBS Global Consumer and Retail Conference in March. The company on April 25 reported a 2.3% decline in North American volume for the first quarter. Still, Walmart , the nation's largest grocer, said the Trump's administration's immigration policy hasn't resulted in anything worth sharing yet. "It's a nonevent for us so far," CEO Doug McMillon said on the company's earnings call in mid-February.
