Harbour posts profit after BNZ KiwiSaver buy

Andrew Bascand, Harbour Asset Management

Harbour, which is now part of the FirstCape group and bought the BNZ KiwiSaver business as part of that amalgamation, reported an $8.1 million net profit for the 15 months ended March compared with a $1.5 million net loss for calendar 2023 – it changed its balance sheet when FirstCape was formed.

Bascand says the change in balance date brings Harbour into line with most of the rest of the funds management industry.

Equity jumped to $124.2 million at March 31 from $8.7 million at Dec 31, including recognising $108.8 million value of BNZ Investment Services, essentially the $6.5 billion BNZ

KiwiSaver scheme, of which Harbour now owns 100%.

Harbour has recognized $68.1 million of goodwill as a result of the BNZ purchase.

Bascand points to the return on capital (ROC) – net profit was 7.4% of stated equity – and asks, “would we have made the same ROC is we had stayed sub-scale and small?”

Though Harbour was hardly small since it had $14.5 billion in funds under management on May 1, 2024 when the FirstCape transactions officially happened and is now nearing $20 billion.

Harbour earned $71.1 million in fees during the 15 months compared with $19.5 million in calendar 2023 while management and service fees cost it $50 million compared with $18.1 million.

The KiwiSaver scheme is performing well, the $1.97 billion growth fund ranking fourth best performer out of 15 funds in the June quarter with a 5.4% return, above the median 5% return, and was fourth best performer over one, three and 10 years, according to MJW’s latest survey.

“We’ve had a good year – a really good year,” Bascand says.

Harbour paid $4.2 million in dividends for the 15 month period after not paying dividends for calendar 2023.

Harbour is owned by FirstCape Wealth and Asset Management which is jointly owned by National Australia Bank (BNZ’s owner), private equity firm Pacific Equity Partners and Jarden.