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Fletcher Building Limited is one of the largest listed companies in
New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island country ...
, with a market capitalisation of nearly
NZ$ The New Zealand dollar ( mi, tāra o Aotearoa; sign: $, NZ$; code: NZD) is the official currency and legal tender of New Zealand, the Cook Islands, Niue, the Ross Dependency, Tokelau, and a British territory, the Pitcairn Islands. Within New Zea ...
4 billion. The company was split from
Fletcher Challenge Fletcher Challenge was a multinational corporation from New Zealand. It was formed in 1981 by the merger of Fletcher Holdings, Challenge Corporation and Tasman Pulp and Paper. It had holdings in construction, forestry, building, and energy, in ...
in 2001, formerly New Zealand's largest business and multinational.


Structure and divisions

With around 20,000 employees globally and over 34 business units operating under the Fletcher Building banner, the company is Australasia's largest building materials supplier. Ross Taylor was appointed Group CEO on 22 November 2017. The company operates in six divisions: building products, distribution, concrete, residential and development, construction, and Australia.


Distribution

Fletcher's retail operations date back to its first building supply site in Dunedin in 1910.
PlaceMakers PlaceMakers is the trading name of Fletcher Distribution Limited, the retail trading arm of Fletcher Building in New Zealand. PlaceMakers also manufactures wall frames, roof trusses and structural components at various frame and truss operations ...
has been the main trading brand for Fletcher Distribution's retail stores around the country since 1954. The chain has 62 stores in 2019, up from 52 in the late 1990s and early 2000s. PlaceMakers has 11 stores in Auckland, with a head office in Panmure, Auckland. Fletcher operated the Building Depot retail chain until 2003. It had 10 stores, including five in Auckland. Fletcher sold the chain to entrepreneur Mark Taylor in 2003 and two of its Auckland stores were closed. Building Depot went into receivership in 2004.


History


COVID-19 pandemic

In April 2020, in response to the
COVID-19 pandemic in New Zealand The COVID-19 pandemic in New Zealand is part of the ongoing pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 () caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (). The first case of the disease in New Zealand was reported on 28 February ...
, Fletcher Building senior executives had their salaries cut by 30%. The cut was part of a pay-plan suggested by the company to deal with financial impacts. Under the plan, non-working staff would receive a 35% pay cut, which would increase to 50% in May and 70% in June. On 20 May, Fletcher Building announced its intention to lay off about 1000 staff in New Zealand, or approximately 10 percent of its workforce, as a result of the
COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...
. On 11 August, it was reported that Fletcher Building was expecting a loss of NZ$196 million for the year to June 2020 as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.


2021–22 "gib" shortage

In response to a nationwide shortage of plasterboards ("gib"), Fletcher began rationing plasterboard orders in February 2022. By that time, the company controlled 94% of New Zealand's gib market, which had earlier triggered a
Commerce Commission The Commerce Commission ( mi, Te Komihana Tauhokohoko) is a New Zealand government agency with responsibility for enforcing legislation that relates to competition in the country's markets, fair trading and consumer credit contracts, and regul ...
probe in November 2021 into whether Fletcher was blocking competitors from entering the New Zealand market. The Commerce Commission's investigation would also investigate the perceived lack of competition within the New Zealand residential building competition and whether the cost of building materials was too high. By May 2022, the plasterboard shortage had caused significant delays to building projects across New Zealand. The shortage of building supplies and construction delays also forced at least 12 companies including Christchurch building firm Maxim towards insolvency. The shortage had forced builders and retailers including
Bunnings Warehouse Bunnings Group Limited, trading as Bunnings Warehouse or Bunnings, is an Australian household hardware chain. The chain has been owned by Wesfarmers since 1994, and has stores in Australia and New Zealand. Bunnings was founded in Perth, Wester ...
to explore alternative plasterboard sources from overseas including China as well as domestic competitor Elephant Plasterboard. In early June 2022, Fletcher Building after video footage emerged that its subsidiary Winstone Wallboards had given another subsidiary Fletcher Living preferential access to its gib-board supplies. This preferential treatment violated the company's own policy and occurred in the midst of a national plasterboard shortage. On 10 June, social housing provider Simplicity Living cancelled its contract with Fletcher citing supply delays and opted to import plasterboard from Thailand. On 13 June, Simplicity Living and the Shareholders Association met with Fletcher Building to discuss the gib plasterboard shortage. In response, the company's CEO Ross Taylor confirmed that it would boost production at its existing factories, with plans being made to open a new factory in
Tauranga Tauranga () is a coastal city in the Bay of Plenty region and the fifth most populous city of New Zealand, with an urban population of , or roughly 3% of the national population. It was settled by Māori late in the 13th century, colonised by ...
in 2023. Rival plasterboard supplier Elephant Plasterboard criticised Fletcher Building's monopoly over the New Zealand building market. On 16 June, Taylor confirmed that Fletcher was also importing more plasterboard material from Australia with plans to produce 1 million square meters of plasterboard between June and September 2022; enough to supply 2,000 houses. On 17 June, Fletcher shareholders including Simplicity Living met with the company's executives. Simplicity chief executive Sam Stubbs criticised Fletcher's leadership for their perceived lack of accountability, questioning their attribution for the plasterboard supply shortage to
COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. The disease quick ...
lockdown restrictions between 2020 and 2021. The Shareholders' Association also voiced concerns about the implications of the gib shortage for Fletcher's finances and reputation. On 21 June, Building and Construction Minister Megan Woods established a ministerial taskforce to investigate ways of easing the national gib board shortage, including obtaining alternative plasterboard supplies. In addition, Woods asked Fletcher not to enforce some of its trademarks for at least 12 months.


References


External links


Official website
{{Authority control Companies based in Auckland Companies listed on the New Zealand Exchange Construction and civil engineering companies of New Zealand Fletcher Challenge Companies listed on the Australian Securities Exchange Construction and civil engineering companies established in 2001 New Zealand companies established in 2001 Dual-listed companies