Wholesale trade in New Zealand
This page gathers the figures we hold on wholesale trade in New Zealand. Each section names its own source.
Each source groups industries its own way, so the edges of wholesale trade differ a little from section to section.
- Median sale multiple7.0times EBITDA
- Still trading after three years55%of businesses started in the year to February 2022
- Wage rate change+2.1%the year to June 2026
What businesses sold for
- Wholesale trade7.0 times EBITDA, middle half 5.5 to 7.5, 10+ deals
- Wholesale distributors7.0 times EBITDA, 5+ deals
Deal details
Wholesale trade: median 7.0 times EBITDA. The middle half of deals ran from 5.5 to 7.5 times (10+ deals of NZ$10.9 million to NZ$543 million, announced 2002 to 2025).
Wholesale distributors: median 7.0 times EBITDA (5+ deals of NZ$10.9 million to NZ$543 million, announced 2005 to 2025).
Sizes are converted from our size range of A$10 million to A$500 million, at the fixed rate our database uses to place overseas deals: NZ$1 = A$0.92. The rate stays fixed, so the range always describes the same deals.
What multiple will my business sell for?
In New Zealand, wholesale trade businesses bought between 2002 and 2025 sold for a median of 7.0 times EBITDA, across 10+ deals.
See what New Zealand businesses sell for, by sector.
These are deals for New Zealand businesses in our database, not every deal in the market.
Source: deals in our database with a published value. Counts by onestepright.
Compare sale multiples across countries.
How many businesses are still trading
About 55 in every 100 were still trading three years later.
Stats NZ counts a business as still trading only if it was trading at every February count since it started.
Source: Stats NZ, New Zealand Business Demography Statistics. Licensed under CC BY 4.0.
Businesses that started and stopped
Each is a share of the businesses trading in February 2025.
Stats NZ marks the latest year as preliminary.
Source: Stats NZ, New Zealand Business Demography Statistics. Licensed under CC BY 4.0. Rates computed by onestepright.
What costs did
What wage rates and input prices did in this industry. Each comes from its own Stats NZ series and grouping of industries.
Each bar comes from its own Stats NZ series, named below.
Source: Stats NZ, Labour Cost Index, private sector, all salary and wage rates. Licensed under CC BY 4.0.
Source: Stats NZ, Producers Price Index, inputs. Licensed under CC BY 4.0.
Each country measures these its own way. The figures sit side by side and do not compare exactly.
| Measure | New Zealand (%) | Australia (%) |
|---|---|---|
| Private sector wage rates | 2.1 | 3.2 |
Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics, Wage Price Index, Australia (6345.0), private sector, total hourly rates excluding bonuses. Licensed under CC BY 4.0.
Your own cost mix
Enter the share of your costs that go on inputs and on wages. The box works out what those two changes add to your total costs, if your costs moved with the industry. Nothing you enter leaves this page.
Your own suppliers' prices and wage rises are the better figures, if you have them.
How businesses set prices
In 2022, 73.5% of wholesale trade firms with six or more staff that set their own prices added a margin to cost.
The survey asked about each firm's main product only.
Source: Stats NZ, Business Operations Survey 2022. Licensed under CC BY 4.0.
This work is based on/includes Stats NZ's data which are licensed by Stats NZ for reuse under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International licence.
See wholesale trade in Australia.
See wholesale trade in the United Kingdom.
See wholesale trade in Canada.
See wholesale trade in the United States.
Who in your business can move a price, and by how much? The pricing check takes about ten minutes.