There was a milestone for one of the Cushing family’s long-standing investments in the past year as patriarch Sir Selwyn Cushing stepped down from the board of Skellerup.
At the company’s annual meeting in October he told shareholders the company meant “an awful lot.”
His association with Skellerup dates back to 1985.
“I saw this little company on the New Zealand stock exchange and Sir Ron Brierley said to me one day – ‘you’d better have a look at that company, it might be going places’.”
He did have a look, saw a great future and the family’s 8% stake is now one of the Cushings’ most significant holdings.
In his parting remarks, Sir Selwyn said he would not be selling his shares and was proud to see son David continuing to represent the family on Skellerup’s board.
“The company is in the safe hands of my successors,” he said.
Skellerup, a maker of industrial products and rubberwear, delivered double-digit gains for shareholders in the past 12 months and no doubt some quiet satisfaction for Sir Selwyn.
David Cushing was content to remark: “It’s been a good year.”
The former BNZ investment banker now leads the family business and also serves on the boards of its main investee companies, Rural Equities and Webster.
Rural Equities, owner of 22 farms across the country from Waikato to Southland, is the mainstay of the Hawke’s Bay family’s interests. The Cushings now own more than two-thirds of the company, whose shares trade on Unlisted, and have consolidated their stake through share buybacks into a holding worth more than $100m.
Meanwhile, another of the opportunities identified by Sir Selwyn, Australian nut and cotton farmer Webster, has earned its keep with a 30% share price gain over the last year.
The Cushings acquired their interest through a merger of Webster and cotton farmer Tandou, an Australian company they bought into in 2013. The holding is now worth more than $30m.
Although the family has tended to concentrate on farming-related investments, in June a Cushing family trust disclosed a 5% stake in Australian budget accommodation provider Aspen Group, operator of nine holiday and caravan parks across the country.
One of Hawke’s Bay’s most famous residents, Sir Selwyn has served at the highest level of New Zealand business, including spells as chairman of Air New Zealand, Brierley Investments, Carter Holt Harvey, the Electricity Corporation, Huttons Kiwi and Whitcoulls Group.