Building Global Businesses from NZ

Building Global Businesses from NZ

Following a wounding All Black loss the outbreak of a dark shadow can often be seen building across New Zealand. This can result in Kiwi’s forgetting rugby is not the only game New Zealander’s punch above their weight in. For example, there is a growing list of New Zealand companies that have successfully expanded and excelled in global markets. Companies like accounting software provider Xero, church payments business Pushpay and aerospace innovator Rocket Lab are examples of global success stories that have started out with Kiwi innovation.

New Zealand’s small domestic market means many of our businesses eye offshore opportunities to boost their growth prospects. These opportunities are not only beneficial to the companies that are growing, but can also be beneficial to our local economy. This is because growing companies can often lead to an increase in new job openings, higher levels of investment and availability resources, as well as developments in innovation that all benefit the wider economy.

Despite the growing list of New Zealand businesses with global growth potential, the New Zealand share market is often characterised by domestically-focused, low-growth companies. This is a result of the domestic market being dominated by lower-risk utility stocks like electricity generators. The low growth nature of New Zealand’s share market provides challenges for investors, as it becomes increasingly important to be able to identify those companies expanding globally with growth potential.

Serko Ltd is a great example of a company with growth potential. Serko is a travel management software developer who assists customers with the travel booking, travel management process and reconciliation of company expenses. The attractiveness of Serko’s product offering has seen the company grow significantly both in Australia and further abroad. While the expansion beyond Australasia is in its early stages, recent agreements with travel booking heavy weights suggest that it has the potential to succeed in these markets. The opportunity is large, as global spend on business travel is estimated to be in the trillions. Recently this led Serko to obtain additional funding from investors so they could accelerate growth. Following the funding raise the increased scale and growing customer base puts Serko in an even better position to take advantage of future opportunities. While it remains to be seen whether Serko will succeed in taking advantage of these future opportunities, the company has already established themselves as another New Zealand company that punches above its weight abroad.

Disclaimer: This article has been prepared for the purpose of providing general information, without taking into consideration any particular investor’s objectives, financial situation or needs.  Any opinions contained in it are held as at the report date and are subject to change without notice.