Fisher Funds has reported a net profit after tax of almost $94 million, almost double the previous year’s effort.
The Takapuna-based manager raked in almost $200 million in revenue over the 12 months to March 31 included $77 million in performance fees equating to more than triple the 2021 result of $23.3 million.
According to the just-released Fisher annual report, the manager also saw costs jump to $56.3 million for the 2022 period, up from $48.5 million last year – largely on the back of higher IT expenses that soared to $4.1 milion compared to under $1 million the previous year.
Totat funds under management rose to $14.6 billion from $13.2 billion in the 2021 year with funds under management bolstered by the group’s takeover of the Aon KiwiSaver and superannuation master trust last November: Fisher later sold the $200 million Aon master trust to Lifetime Retirement Income but retained the KiwiSaver scheme with a potential $800 million to transfer.
The accounts reveal Fisher paid $32 million for the Aon assets, funded by debt, clawing back about $3.7 million after offloading the super master trust to Lifetime.
Fisher is also tipped as front-runner to buy the approximately $9 billion Kiwi Wealth business in a deal expected to be signed this week.
Meanwhile, star boutique investment firm, Milford Asset Management – headed by Mark Ryland – reported record profits of more than $12.5 million on revenue of almost $175 million for the 12 months to March 31, despite seeing a more than $40 million year-on-year decline in performance fees.
According to the latest financial statements (reported via the Milford Funds entity), the more than $16 billion investment manager garnered over $147 million in management fees during the annual period with a $26.4 million performance booster: for the 2021 year, the respective figures came in at $93.4 million and $68.2 million.
Expenses increased slightly over the year for the firm with total costs rising to almost $157 million compared to more than $146 million the previous year. Milford Asset Management operating costs (charged as a lump sum in the Milford Funds accounts) hit $142.5 million for the latest reporting period compared to $136.6 million over the 12 months to March 31, 2021.
Despite final quarter market volatility that likely dented performance fees, Milford profits surged on outstanding net fund flows that saw the manager grow its retail assets under management by 35 per cent plus for the 12 months to the end of this March. Figures from Australian research house, Plan for Life, show Milford holding almost $15.6 billion in retail funds under management (FUM) as at March 31 – dropping about $400 million from the $16 billion high set three months previously.
Milford KiwiSaver FUM stood at just over $4.8 billion at the end of March, although the scheme booked zero performance fees in its annual accounts compared to $17 million for the 2021 year: investment management fees, however, jumped to $32 million in 2022 from just under $21 million during the previous 12-month reporting period.
Among a bag of mixed results for other local managers, Pie Funds reported a big jump in earnings, collecting over $31 million in fees and booking close to $8.9 million of net profit versus respective figures of almost $20 million and $2.9 million over the previous annual period. Pie cut performance fees from all of its funds a few years ago in lieu of higher management fees.
Meanwhile Generate, one of the fast-growing KiwiSaver contingent, reported a net profit after tax of $3.2 million on fee revenue of $41.6 million for the 2022 year compared to almost $4.7 million and $30 million in the previous annual period. Generate expenses rose considerably from $23.5 million last year to more than $37 million for the 12 months to the end of March 2022.
Other boutique managers including Mint, Salt and Castle Point reported about par profit figures for the year while Devon and Nikko were down somewhat, the latter booking a slight loss for the year.