Messrs J Fokerd, M Brenton-Rule, C Dennis, M Baker, M Chitty, J O Brien and Mesdames V Pascoe and M Saba

Size: px

Start display at page:

Download "Messrs J Fokerd, M Brenton-Rule, C Dennis, M Baker, M Chitty, J O Brien and Mesdames V Pascoe and M Saba"

Diana Lane
5 years ago
Views:

1 MINUTES OF A MEETING OF THE COUNCIL OF THE NEW ZEALAND THOROUGHBRED BREEDERS ASSOCIATION HELD ON FRIDAY 6 TH MARCH 2015 IN THE NZ BLOODSTOCK BOARDROOM, KARAKA, AUCKLAND AT 10.30AM. PRESENT: Messrs J Fokerd, M Brenton-Rule, C Dennis, M Baker, M Chitty, J O Brien and Mesdames V Pascoe and M Saba Also attending: Mr M Martin and Ms N Griffiths 1 APOLOGIES: Messrs N King, J Thompson & G Wigley 2 CONFIRMATION OF MINUTES The minutes of the Council meeting held 9 th October 2014, were confirmed as a true and correct record. (Chitty/Dennis) 3 MATTERS ARISING 3.1 With reference to point 4.1 of the October Council minutes, V Pascoe asked whether a second invitation had been sent to the Farmers Mutual Group (FMG) to become a commercial partner of the NZTBA. Nothing has progressed and C Dennis stated he will follow this up. 4 FINANCIAL REPORT 4.1 J Fokerd reported that the Association had originally budgeted a $48,000 deficit for the current year, however this is now looking more like a deficit of $66,000, due to one off payments with the retirement of Sally Cassels-Brown, and a 2 year payment of the International Breeders Levy. 4.2 It was resolved that the payments, as listed, from 1 st September 2014, to 31 st January 2015, be approved (Fokerd/Brenton-Rule). 4.3 After the March accounts are paid on 20 th April it is hoped the audit can start the following week. It was agreed that authority be given to the Executive Committee to sign off on the annual draft accounts for 2014/15 if need be. (Pascoe/Fokerd) 4.4 V Pascoe asked about the office telephone expenses. M Martin advised that there is one landline plus N Griffiths and M Martin mobiles. Postage costs are also down. N Griffiths is sending documentation via as much as possible. 4.5 The insurance renewals are due on 1 st April. M Martin met with the broker, Cromley Lockwood recently. There is currently $80k in assets and office furniture held in Alpha Street, Cambridge, which includes the library; $7.5k office contents in residence with M Martin in Auckland; $100k for office furniture stored in Albany and $5k for extra books etc in Alpha Street. The Association holds cover for business interruption insurance, Director s liability insurance along with personnel, car insurance and travel insurance. Budgeted cost of $5,000 premium. 1

2 4.6 M Martin and J Fokerd met with Greg Purcell, NZTR, in late November. They discussed the possible increase to the administration fee for the Pearl Series, and the percentage increase to the TBA from the broodmare levy. J Fokerd has had subsequent telephone conversations with G Purcell on two occasions but it would seem that our requests have not been discussed at Board level to date. Currently the broodmare levy to the Association is $ GST. The NZTBA has suggested an increase to $ GST. 5 MEMBERSHIP REPORT 5.1 There were 172 members with outstanding subscriptions in February. Currently there remains 105 unpaid members out of 1628 active members (compared to 1734 active members in June, 2014). M Martin advised that we will write off those that remain outstanding at the end of the financial year, 31 st March 2015, but keep the members details on the membership system. 6 OFFICE REVIEW 6.1 M Martin and M Saba reviewed the Office Manager s position after N Griffiths had completed her first 90 days of employment and had reported to the recent Executive meeting. Her employment contract has been put in place. 6.2 J Fokerd proposed that N Griffiths conduct more off sites visits to meet with members and studs to attempt to grow the membership. V Pascoe said she would also be involved with as many visits as possible. 6.3 It was agreed that with the help of our Accountancy Partner, OneBase, in Hamilton, the NZTBA accounts be changed over from Cash Manager to Xero at the conclusion of the current year s annual accounts. 6.4 V Pascoe enquired whether it was absolutely necessary to have a physical office. M Chitty questioned the possibility of an amalgamation with NZTM to a shared space. In the long term, it was agreed that the head office should be based in Cambridge. It was concluded that an office is necessary as it offers a fixed base and permanency for future NZTBA staff. The search for a new premise/options will continue this year. 6.5 M Chitty questioned the necessity of regional branches of the NZTBA throughout the country. He suggested that the Association perhaps be centralised at head office with one representative based in each region. This could streamline and amalgamate the branches to become one identity. 6.6 Councillors were in agreement that branch activities are declining. J Fokerd proposed that M Martin visit regional branches during the winter and obtain some feedback on how members see their branches operating in the future. 6.7 M Chitty proposed increasing the annual subscription from $ (inc GST) by $ M Saba suggested an increase to make the subscription $ plus GST. It was agreed that this matter be raised at the AGM this winter for members consideration. 2

3 7. GOALS FOR NZTBA Either increase income or reduce costs eg. increase broodmare levy, subscription fee, Pearl Series administration fee. 7.2 Continue with all tasks currently undertaken by the Association. 7.3 Produce the 2015 NZ Stallion Register and Members Diary. 7.4 Conclude bloodstock taxation negotiations with the IRD and communicate the outcome to members. 7.5 Enrol 2015 Pearl Series fillies and administer the programme and prizemoney distribution for the 2013 & 2014 crops. 7.6 Fund, organise and present a Winter Seminar Series on taxation, feed, fertiliser, the new commercial marketplace, and additional requirements under the Health & Safety Act. 7.7 Discuss ideas and funding for a long-term office solution. 7.8 Approach the NZRB to help fund the IRD presentation costs and contribute to our Winter Seminar Series. 8 NZ STAKEHOLDERS REPORT 8.1 Council discussed NZTR s Race Club and Stakeholders monthly reports for February and March. These reports are available for Branch Committee meetings. 9 YEARLING SALE REPORT 9.1 Council discussed a 2015 Yearling Sale Analysis Report compiled by M Martin and N Griffiths which includes comparative sales figures from previous years dating back to The document includes an analysis of production costs of each yearling sold from conception through to yearling sale day. M Martin will discuss this report with the new NZTR Director Rick Williams. 9.2 V Pascoe reported on the recent Melbourne Premier Yearling Sale. The sale was extremely strong but unfortunately not for many NZ vendors. She advised that there is a need for NZ stallions to be marketed more in Australia. Australian syndicators and trainers were finding it difficult to market some NZ stallions to potential clients. M Chitty commented that NZTM currently takes the angle of promoting NZ winners and race results overseas but not necessarily NZ stallions. He suggested that NZTM needs to concentrate more on promoting the stallions in their regular media updates in order to profile NZ stallions. 3

4 V Pascoe suggested that stories written for the NZTBA website be forwarded to NZTM and asked to be included in the update. Stud farms should also provide their own stories to promote stallions and the breeding industry. 10 SALES MARQUEE REPORT 10.1 The Association received a letter from NZB in October 2014, advising that the NZTBA s Sales marquee would be moving to a different location. M Martin advised that attendance at the marquee throughout the sales week this year was very disappointing at the new site which was behind the TAB caravan. The NZTM and Owners marquee (which was on our old site) was also quiet with Andrew Birch commenting to M Martin that there were very few new ownership enquiries M Martin commented that members may not be attending the annual yearling sales in the numbers of past years due to the introduction of extensive television coverage of the Premier sale, and a smaller number of members who have remained vendors M Martin also commented that our Commerical Partners were not happy with the location of the marquee due to lack of pedestrian traffic. Mark Brady from Magnum stated that he would not be happy with this location in the future Further discussions are needed with NZB if the Association is to participate at the 2016 yearling sales V Pascoe suggested asking NZB if our partners could use the grassed area to the left opposite the sale days office to setup their displays. This would allow the Association to be in the combined marquee and work as a team to promote the Pearl Series and the industry. 11 PEARL SERIES FINANCIAL REPORT 11.1 There have been 335 early bird entries received for the 2015 Pearl Series (381 in 2014) at the closing date of 28 th February It was agreed to increase the Pearl administration fee from $2,000 per month to $3,000 per month as of 1 st January, When the initial fee was set at $2,000 per month for the first year, the fee was to be reviewed at the end of that year. We are now dealing with 3 crops. 12 WEBSITE UPDATE 12.1 The new upgraded Thorourghbred website in conjunction with NZTM and NZTR will be proceeding during the first half of this year. The NZTBA s share will be $7,000 inclusive of GST to be paid in the new financial year. The upgraded website should be very useful to all stakeholders. 4

5 13 BLOODSTOCK TAXATION/IRD 13.1 The next meeting of the Bloodstock Tax Committee and the IRD is scheduled for 25 th March M Martin reported that meetings have been constructive, but they now need to be concluded, and if agreement is not reached with the IRD, then politicians will need to be involved. 14 COMMERICAL PARTNERS REPORT 14.1 The Dunstan partnership review is due this month. The other Partners contracts are not due for renewal until September The Association is always keen to hear of any new partnership possibilities. 15 SUNLINE TRUST SCHOLARSHIP REPORT 15.1 Benji King has arrived at Cheveley Park in the UK on the Sunline Scholarship and has made a good start. Dylan Treweek is at the Irish National Stud and his first report was received this month. 16 EDUCATION PRIMARY ITO 16.1 V Pascoe commented that the Level 4 qualification has been reduced from 46 hours to 30 hours by the Primary ITO (PITO). The reason being that some of the studs believe that many of the tasks can be performed on the farm and it s a cheaper option for both NZTR and PITO. However it is of great concern that not all the farms perform the tasks to the same level. There are now no written assessments in practice under the PITO management The next course commences on the 25 th March V Pascoe stated that she had not received any consultation regarding the changes made to the course. She asked the Council for any negative feedback they may receive to be put in writing to enable her to challenge the changes in the procedure of the course sign offs. 17 EQUINE HEALTH AND GOVERNMENT INDUSTRY AGREEMENT (GIA) 17.1 M Martin reported that the Government Industry Agreement (GIA) was formally signed by the Minister and the Equine Health Association at the commencement of the Yearling Sales at Karaka in January PATTERN COMMITTEE REPORT 18.1 The Supplementary Report of the NZ Pattern Committee s meeting held on 30 th October 2014, was tabled and considered. 5

6 19 INTERNATIONAL BREEDERS MEETING IRELAND, SEPTEMBER, It was agreed that M Martin prepare a paper for Council outlining the cost to attend the International Breeders meeting in September. Following that, Council members would come back with ideas on how to raise the required funds. It was agreed that M Martin should attend if possible as NZ needs to be represented in Ireland especially given there was no representation from NZ at the 2014 International Breeders meeting for financial reasons. The 2014 meeting had been the first IBM New Zealand had missed in 25 years. 20 GENERAL BUSINESS 20.1 Nominations to Council 2015/16 Nominations for the 2015/16 Council will be called for in the Autumn Breeders Bulletin next month. M Martin asked that Councillors advise him if they are not available for re-election. J O Brien advised that he will be retiring due to a busy schedule. M Brenton-Rule also advised that he will be retiring. M Martin said that it is important the Councillors and Branch Committee canvas interested people to be nominated by the due date V Pascoe commented that the Assocation needs to organise a trophy for the Thoroughbred Breeders Stakes (Gr.1) at Te Aroha on the 4 th April and to ensure that invitations are sent to our Sponsors by the Waikato Branch to join them on that day. The meeting closed at 3.50 pm Next Council Meeting: (date to be advised) Signed Date 6

NEW ZEALAND BLOODSTOCK TAXATION UPDATE: the new write-downs & the business test by John Aubrey

NEW ZEALAND BLOODSTOCK TAXATION UPDATE: the new write-downs & the business test by John Aubrey Published by the NZTBA: www.nzthoroughbred.co.nz 8 September 2006 John is a chartered accountant based in