Fisher Funds gets lower performance fees, faces refunds

BUSINESSDESK: Fisher Funds Management reaped a lower performance fees and faces a refund for one client, with another in prospect, according to its latest financial statements.

The fund manager with an active investment approach set up by Carmel Fisher in 1998 notched up performance fees of $375,000 in the year ended March 31, down from $2.97 million the previous year but administration fees of $1.83 million are up from $405,000 last year.

The firm's financial statements were lodged with the Companies Office.

The bulk of the $13.42 million income in the year came from $11.2 million of management fees. The company receives management fees from listed investment vehicles Kingfish, Barramundi and Marlin Global, and manages unit trusts and Kiwisaver schemes.

The period captures Fisher Fund's $20.9 million acquisition of the Huljich KiwiSaver scheme in May 2011, adding 87,000 members with $191 million of entitlements to its books. Fisher Funds has since added a further 37,000 KiwiSaver members from the Credit Union KiwiSaver Scheme.

As disclosed in Marlin's annual report, Fisher Funds is only getting a minimum management fee of 0.75% of average gross value in the year ended March 31.

Fisher Funds charges 1.25% per annum of the gross asset value, calculated weekly and payable monthly in arrears, for managing the listed investment company's portfolio.

But this reduces by 0.1% for each 1% the gross return on the portfolio is less than the change in the NZX 90-day bank bill rate index.

Fisher Funds has provided for a $347,000 refund to Marlin Global because the gross return as at March 31, 2012, was 8.73% below the NZX 90-day bank bill index.

Marlin Global reported a net loss of $12 million in the year ended June 30, from a $7.7 million profit in the same period last year.

Its share price adjusted for dividends paid, known as total shareholder return, decreased by 18.4 percent in the year to June 30, which the company dubbed the worst in its five-year history.

The Fisher Funds management accounts also have a $263,000 contingent liability for a reduction in the 1.25% fee collected from Barramundi to 0.85% for the year to March 31, 2012, but says no provision is needed with for Kingfish.

Fisher Funds did not respond to BusinessDesk inquiries.