2013 Annual Portfolio Report | Crown Ownership Monitoring Unit
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2013 Annual Portfolio Report | 2013 Annual Portfolio Crown Ownership Monitoring Unit 2013 Annual Portfolio Report The 2013 Annual Portfolio Report is a publication from the Crown Ownership Monitoring Unit, a part of the New Zealand Treasury. The URL: http://www.comu.govt.nz/publications/ annual-portfolio-report Persistent URL: http://purl.oclc.org/nzt/apr-1620 978-0-478-42105-7 (Print) 978-0-478-42104-0 (Online) This publication contains information on the Crown’s commercial portfolio, and all reasonable measures have been taken to ensure the quality and accuracy of the information provided. However, the Crown Ownership Monitoring Unit, the Treasury and the New Zealand Government do not accept any liability for any loss or damage arising from the use of this publication. Information contained in this publication is not business, tax or legal advice, and specific advice should be sought from qualified professionals before taking any action in reliance on this information. Each page of this publication must be read in conjunction with this disclaimer. Financial tables generally relate to the year to 30 June 2013. Commentary, including board and executive composition, includes post balance date events to 30 November 2013. Crown Copyright © This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 New Zealand licence. In essence, you are free to copy, distribute and adapt the work, as long as you attribute the work to the Crown and abide by the other licence terms. Acknowledgements We acknowledge the assistance of the entities To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/nz/. Please note that no covered in this report for the provision of departmental or governmental emblem, logo or Coat of Arms may be used in any way which infringes information and photographs. All photos are used any provision of the Flags, Emblems, and Names Protection Act 1981. Attribution to the Crown should be with permission. Not to be reproduced without in written form and not by reproduction of any such emblem, logo or Coat of Arms. permission. 2013 Annual Portfolio Report 4 Foreword 10 The Crown’s Commercial and Financial Portfolio: Highlights 12 Commercial Portfolio 14 Corporate Governance 16 Special Topic: Independent Commercial Valuation Reports 21 Special Topic: Fit for Purpose Governance? 27 Listed Companies 28 Listed Company Portfolio Overview 35 Air New Zealand Limited 36 Meridian Energy Limited 37 Mighty River Power Limited 39 Commercial Priority Companies 40 Commercial Priority Portfolio Overview 46 Airways Corporation of New Zealand Limited 47 Animal Control Products Limited 48 AsureQuality Limited 49 Corporatised Airports 50 FairWay Resolution Limited 51 Genesis Energy Limited 52 KiwiRail Holdings Limited 53 Kordia Group Limited 54 Landcorp Farming Limited 55 Learning Media Limited 56 Meteorological Service of New Zealand Limited 57 New Zealand Post Limited (Group) 58 Kiwibank 59 Public Trust 98 Annexes 60 Quotable Value Limited 98 Abbreviations 61 Solid Energy New Zealand Limited 99 Entity Abbreviations 62 Television New Zealand Limited 100 Summary Financial Tables 63 Transpower New Zealand Limited 104 Financial Definitions 65 Crown Financial Institutions 66 CFI Portfolio Overview 71 Accident Compensation Corporation – Investments 72 Government Superannuation Fund 73 National Provident Fund 74 New Zealand Superannuation Fund 77 Multiple Objective Entities 78 Multiple Objective Entity Overview 82 Accident Compensation Corporation 83 Crown Asset Management Limited 84 Crown Fibre Holdings Limited 85 Crown Research Institutes 88 Health Benefits Limited 89 Housing New Zealand Corporation 90 Local Government Funding Agency Limited 91 New Zealand Lotteries Commission 92 New Zealand Railways Corporation 93 New Zealand Venture Investment Fund Limited 94 Radio New Zealand Limited 95 REANNZ Limited 96 Southern Response Earthquake Services Limited 97 T maki Redevelopment Company Limited Foreword This report reviews the performance of 49 government-owned enterprises that have full or partial commercial objectives. Collectively these enterprises employ over 40,000 people and, as at 30 June 2013, held assets of around $125 billion: $45 billion in commercially-focused entities, some listed on the NZX; $52 billion in investment funds; and $29 billion in policy-focused assets. The Crown Ownership Monitoring Unit’s (COMU’s) goal is to protect value, enhance performance and manage the risks associated with the Crown-owned enterprises monitored in line with the Crown’s preferences and priorities. As well as providing advice to Ministers on performance, COMU promotes transparency through public disclosure initiatives. The purpose of the Annual Portfolio Report (APR) is to provide further disclosure in combination with the information flows from the entities themselves. Like any business enterprise, Crown-owned assets are affected by prevailing economic conditions. The near-term outlook for the New Zealand economy is robust, with an increasingly embedded and broad-based expansion in activity forecast. Business confidence is at a near 15-year high and the NZX50 increased by almost 30% over the course of 2012/13. Real gross domestic product (GDP) is forecast to accelerate from 2.7% in the year to March 2013 to a peak of 3.6% in the year to March 2015. Near- term growth is expected to be amongst the fastest in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). The increase in commodity prices, particularly for dairy products, contributes to strong growth in nominal incomes, with nominal GDP growth of around 7% expected by mid-2014. The growth outlook continues to reflect the net impact of a large number of supporting and constraining forces. Factors on the supportive side include the Canterbury rebuild, accelerating net migration inflows, recovery from drought and near record commodity prices, while the elevated exchange rate and ongoing fiscal restraint represent constraining factors, as do considerable risks associated with global economic developments. The overall positive trends suggested by share market returns and from forecasts do not, however, protect entities from the risks of their own operating environments. Two State-owned enterprises (SOEs) – Learning Media and Solid Energy – have faced financial distress through failing to adequately manage their particular businesses. These failures have increased the focus on the Crown’s commercial ownership framework. While Solid Energy and Learning Media attracted much attention, overall performance in the commercial priority sector has been modest and performance across other parts of the portfolio has been mixed. There is a substantial investment by the Crown in these businesses, and it is reasonable to expect a return commensurate with the risk. The Crown has a strong emphasis on optimising the way in which its balance sheet is employed and should not have capital tied up in underperforming assets. 4 There have been some significant changes in the portfolio of entities monitored by COMU, with the Accident Compensation Corporation (ACC) and Housing New Zealand Corporation (HNZC) added and a number of new entities created. The APR presents performance analysis of three areas: companies where commercial performance is the priority: those listed on the New Zealand Stock Exchange (NZX), and other commercial priority entities – SOEs, Television New Zealand Limited (TVNZ), Public Trust and corporatised airports entities responsible for investing Crown funds (the Crown financial institutions, or CFIs), and “multiple objective” entities, where the ownership rationale is policy driven. These form two types: policy priority entities; ACC, the Crown research institutes (CRIs), HNZC, Radio New Zealand (Radio NZ), New Zealand Lotteries Commission (NZ Lotteries) and New Zealand Railways Corporation (NZRC), and special purpose entities, tasked with a special purpose where government ownership or partnership is deemed appropriate. These include companies set up under s4A of the Public Finance Act 1989: Crown Fibre Holdings (CFH), Research and Education Advanced Network New Zealand Limited (REANNZ), Health Benefits Limited (HBL), T maki Redevelopment Company (TRC) and Southern Response Earthquake Services Limited (Southern Response). Recent changes to the Public Finance Act 1989 require the Treasury to prepare an Investment Statement every four years, describing and stating the value of the Crown’s significant assets and liabilities. The next Investment Statement is due in 2014. This APR complements the Investment Statement, focusing on entity-level and portfolio-level performance of the commercially-focused entities, CFIs and multiple-objective entities. Commercial priority entities, including those listed on NZX In the 2013 calendar year, Mighty River Power (MRP) and Meridian Energy (Meridian) listed on the NZX with the Crown maintaining a majority holding. The Crown also sold down its investment in Air New Zealand Limited (Air NZ), retaining around 53% ownership. This APR separates listed companies from the commercial priority entities, as they represent a significant new ownership category and are more subject to capital market disciplines with a share price reflecting a market perception of value. Given the recent listing of both MRP and Meridian, it is not yet possible to assess this portfolio in terms of change in value from last year. However, points to note include: Air NZ’s share price outperformed the NZX50 Gross Index in the 2012/13 financial year.