New businesses open

ROBYN EDIE/The Southland Times

GOOD MEDICINE: Herbal medicine practitioner Lena Williams has returned to her home town to set up business in Invercargill.

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Business confidence appears to be slowly improving in the south with new businesses opening and manufacturing statistics stabilising.

The February figure of 49.9 points for the performance manufacturing index for Southland/Otago shows the economy has stabilised in the first two months of 2010, but is still retracting.

The figure is five points higher than the same time last year and 0.7 points above January, but still well below the seasonally adjusted national figure of 53.3 points.

An index reading above 50 points indicates manufacturing is generally expanding and a result below that threshold shows it is declining.

Otago Southland Employers' Association chief executive John Scandrett said the index was a good sign but there was still a negative element in the economy.

This was because of seasonal demand for food, recession factors still evident in printing and publishing and quiet feedback from the machinery and equipment industry, he said. In Invercargill at least 10 new businesses have opened in the past six months. The latest was a herbal business run by Lena Williams which opened this week.

In East Gore an internet cafe, Heaven Sent Gifts, has opened and in Lumsden Vicky McCallum is scheduled to open New 2 You Preloved Clothing today.

Ms McCallum said, "Lumsden is a cool wee town to be part of, and the south [business] end is starting to move."

Southland Chamber of Commerce chief executive officer Richard Hay said new businesses were coming at a time when confidence was growing in the market.

Many people were looking for alternative forms of employment or to go into business by themselves, he said.

There were also many businesses shifting to new premises in recent months, leaving buildings available for fresh enterprise, he said.

- © Fairfax NZ News

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