Fletcher Building chief Mark Adamson: 'No one wants to live in Sydney'

Fletcher Building CEO Mark Adamson said New Zealand's tax regime was a global leader. Photo / Natalie Slade

New Zealand's "simple" tax regime was attracting new recruits at Fletcher Building to move across the ditch for a better deal.

Fletcher Building chief executive Mark Adamson told the Sydney Morning Herald that after looking in to the tax regime in Australia, new workers want to move to Auckland.

"When we recruit, people spend five minutes looking at the tax regime and they all want to move to Auckland. No one wants to live in Sydney."

Adamson told the newspaper that New Zealand's tax system was global leading and worked well.

"New Zealand is a great model and the best system I've seen and I've worked all over the world.

"New Zealand is a very simple tax regime. I take five minutes to fill in my tax return and I'm a fairly complex tax person. The taxes are low and they simply encourage entrepreneurs to swing their bat and try new things," he said.

"And [that] is not to say that we don't have good public services."

The listed building supplies and construction group, posted a 51 per cent gain in first-half profit, with growth in its newly aligned building products and distribution units making up for weaker earnings from Formica and New Zealand housing developments.

Fletcher shares rose 2 per cent to $6.99 after the company reported net profit of $172 million, meeting analyst expectations, for the six months ended December 31, on a 2 per cent gain in revenue to $4.4 billion.

The company also affirmed guidance for full-year of earnings before interest, tax and significant items of $650 million to $690 million, from $653 million last year, excluding a gain on the sale of Rocla Quarry Products. Its interim dividend of 19 cents is up from 18 cents a year earlier, beating expectations.