Kiwi Confidence Continues To Ride High

Kiwi confidence continues to ride high

- New Zealand consumer confidence levels ranked fourth highest globally
- Health and Economy top the list of greatest concerns

Auckland, June 12, 2007 – Consumer confidence in New Zealand has slipped one point in the first half of 2007, scoring an Index of 120 and making it the fourth most confident country globally, according to Nielsen's latest Global Online Consumer Confidence Index.

Released today, these and other findings were part of the twice-yearly global Nielsen Online Consumer Opinion Survey, the largest of its kind, which polled 26,486 people in 47 countries and more than 500 New Zealand participants on their perception of the local economy, job prospects, spending habits and major concerns.

While confidence has remained stable in New Zealand, consumers continue to cite Health and the Economy equally at 40% as their major concerns over the coming six months. (refer to Chart 1).

"The resilient housing market, as well as the continuing employee job market may have influenced the continued confidence this period", said Steve Mitchell, managing director, Nielsen New Zealand."

On job prospects and personal finances, Kiwis continue to be optimistic with over eight in ten (84%) saying job prospects over the next 12 months looked good or excellent, significantly higher than the global average of just 52 percent.

Over seven in ten (77%) believe that the state of their personal finances in the year ahead will be good or excellent, well above the global average of 58 percent.

The number of Kiwis who thought it was a good time to buy slipped a couple of points this period to 58 percent from 60 percent in second half of 2006. This compares to 40 percent globally.

The survey results reveal that there is a substantial number of New Zealand consumers focused on debt reduction with close to half (47%) allocating their spare cash to paying off debts, credit cards and loans – a one point increase from December 2006. Other financial priorities that ranked highly among New Zealand consumers included saving (42%), holidays (36%) and home improvement/decorating (30%) (refer to Chart 2).

"Kiwis are increasingly concerned with paying off debt, which may indicate that confidence levels will decrease further in future surveys. It will be interesting to see the impact of interest rate rises and the changing labour market will have on confidence levels going forward" said Mitchell.

ENDS

About the Survey

The Nielsen Online Consumer Confidence and Opinion Survey is the largest half-yearly survey of its kind aiming at gauging current confidence levels, spending habits/intentions and current major concerns of consumers across the globe. The Nielsen Consumer Confidence Index is developed based on consumer's confidence in the job market, status of their personal finance and their readiness to spend. The latest survey, conducted in May, polled about 26,486 internet users in 47 markets from Europe, Asia Pacific, North America, the Baltics and the Middle East.

About The Nielsen Company

The Nielsen Company is a global information and media company with leading market positions and recognized brands in marketing information (ACNielsen), media information (Nielsen Media Research), business publications (Billboard, The Hollywood Reporter, Adweek), trade shows and the newspaper sector (Scarborough Research). The privately held company is active in more than 100 countries, with headquarters in Haarlem, the Netherlands and New York, USA. For more information, please visit, www.nielsen.com.

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