Kingfish reveals a good catch for the year

Friday 5th May 2006

Listed investment trust Kingfish has had a strong year, providing good returns for both investors and the manager - Fisher Funds Management.

Kingfish yesterday said that the company has increased the value of its net assets 64% since listing in April 2004, increasing 24% in the year to March 31.

"The increase in NAV was substantially ahead of the Benchmark Rate of 14.43% reflecting the successful efforts of Fisher Funds," Kingfish chairman Rob Challinor said.

The performance has earned Fisher Funds an annual performance fee, half of this has been paid by issuing 357,782 Kingfish shares at $1.5888 each. This values the fee at $568,444.

Shareholders will be paid a fully imputed dividend of 2.5 cents per share.

Challinor says Kingfish is investigating the possibility of qualifying as a collective investment vehicle under the tax changes proposed to come into effect on April 1.

He says "if it does qualify there would be no restriction on its ability to distribute gains from sale of its investments. This should have a favourable impact on the level of future dividends paid."

Kingfish's stock holdings are: Freightways, Metlifecare, Waste Management, Pumpkin Patch, Mainfreight, Michael Hill and Ryman Healthcare.

The Kingfish Nursery portfolio includes the following stocks: Comvita, Kidicorp, NZ Exchange, Software of Excellence (mandatory convertible notes) and Cadmus Technology.

Two of the stocks have been subject to merger and acquisition activity. Fisher Funds has declined to accept the Metlifecare offer and is still in the process of assessing the merits of the Waste Management offer.

Kingfish also announced an audited net surplus after tax of $18.8m for the year ended March 31, a 12.95% increase over the previous year.

Comments from our readers

No comments yet