Profit drops at Milford as performance fees plunge despite strong returns

Blair Turnbull, Milford Funds CEO

Total fees for the year fell 13.7% to $232.3 million in the year, although its base management fees rose 24.4% while its performance fees fell to $1.1 million from $83.5 million the previous year.

“Performance fees are only earned when clearly established performance benchmarks are met or exceeded,” says chief executive Blair Turnbull.

“The market backdrop and the geo-political environment is constantly evolving and the expectation is for continuing volatility and challenging geo-political conditions, with a shifting mix of government and central bank policy,” Turnbull says.

Between 2016 and 2021, Milford Funds reported rising performance fees each year, starting from $8.9 million in 2016, but they fell to $26.4 million in 2022 from $68.2 million the previous year and they fell to zero in 2023 before bouncing back in 2024.

However, Turnbull says “we cannot attribute any level of predictability to be specifically pre or post covid.”

The company includes fees from all Milford’s wholesale and retail funds, including its KiwiSaver Plan.

MJW’s quarterly performance surveys show Milford’s funds tend to be top performers. For example, its $7.09 billion growth fund achieved a 5.7% return in the June quarter and was the second-best performer of 15 growth funds surveyed.

It was the best performer over a year, with a 12.8% return, second-best performer over three years and best performer over both five and 10 years.

“Our investment team delivered an excellent year’s performance overall, finishing the March 2025 year very positively with strong absolute and relative returns for most funds and despite the market conditions,” Turnbull says.

“Investment funds’ performance over the medium to long-term horizons against peer groups was also strong amongst our diversified funds over most measured time periods.”

The company has experienced continued strong growth in both its KiwiSaver and other investment funds and is attracting both new clients and has high retention rates of existing clients, with funds under management growing to $26 billion at March 31 from $21.7 billion a year earlier, Turnbull says.

“The Milford KiwiSaver Plan continues to have one of the strongest transfer rates in the industry and we recognise that every one of our members has made the choic to be with us and this is something that we are very proud of.”

Transfer rates are supported by Milford’s easy-to-use E-app and client portal, Turnbull says.

Milford Funds paid $17.5 million in dividends for the latest year - $563,761 more than net profit – compared with the previous year’s $10.2 million payout.

Net equity – essentially retained earnings – was $34.9 million at March 31 after payment of the dividend.

The Milford Private Wealth vehicle also lodges financial results with the Companies Office and it achieved a 16.4% increase in net profit to $2.4 million in the latest year and paid a dividend of $1.8 million, up from $1.7 million the previous year.