Summer New Zealand Equities
Summer New Zealand Equities fund performance summary as at 31 August 2025.
Fund at a glance
Unit price (as at 31 August 2025): $1.7827
Date the fund started: 19 September 2016
For information on fees, see our Fees page.
For more information on the Summer New Zealand Equities fund, read the latest quarterly fund update and the product disclosure statement.
Fund objective and strategy
See the New Zealand Equities page for the Summary of investment objective and strategy.
Fund returns
| PIR | Total since inception (annualised) | 1 Month | 3 Month | 1 Year | 3 Years^ |
| 28% | 6.69% | -0.24% | 4.15% | 2.92% | 2.60% |
| 17.50% | 7.04% | -0.23% | 4.21% | 3.28% | 2.97% |
| 10.50% | 7.27% | -0.23% | 4.25% | 3.51% | 3.22% |
^ Annualised
Fund returns are calculated net of fund charges, trading expenses and accrued tax for a New Zealand resident individual paying tax at the Prescribed Investor Rate identified above.
Top 10 investments
The top 10 investments make up 58.32% of the fund.
Manager's Commentary
How did your portfolio return?
The Summer New Zealand Equities Fund (the fund) delivered a return net of fees and before tax of -0.22% during August. For the 12 months to the end of August, the fund delivered a return net of fees and before tax of 3.87%.
The biggest positive contributors to the fund's outperformance were overweight positions in Sky City Entertainment (SKC) and Ryman Healthcare (RYM), assisted by an underweight in Auckland Airport (AIA). Against that, our overweight in Tourism Holdings dragged on relative performance.
The driver of underperformance in August was our high conviction position in Sky City Entertainment (SKC). Whilst the 2025 profit result was in line with prior guidance, the outlook for 2026 was weak (including one-off project costs) and more importantly a deeply discounted equity raise was announced. We have noted previously that this was possible and that we would support it, but we also thought there was a solid pathway to avoiding an equity raising. We are engaging with the SKC Board around the governance actions taken that have led us here.
The other major drag on performance was a 21% rally in the A2 Milk (ATM) share price on the back of an in-line result, the purchase of another factory and 2026 guidance that was in-line with market expectations. The positive share price reaction to already known factors surprised us.
On the positive side, a downgrade to 2026 earnings for our underweight position in Ebos, in-line results for Tourism Holdings and Heartland Group, along with a takeover offer for our small holding in Comvita contributed positively to relative fund performance.
What happened in the markets that you invest in?
August is always a busy month due to reporting season. We focus on what management says about the future rather than the detail of the reported results. We expected further earnings downgrades given a very weak economy in the June quarter, and on average that is what occurred. We queried multiple management teams as to the robustness of their guidance ranges, urging them to ensure it is based on current activity levels rather than hoping for a bounce in the economy.
We want companies to have the flexibility to respond to demand growth when it arrives, but to plan for current conditions where employment is soft, house prices stagnant and consumer confidence has not yet turned into spending. We continue to think that there are strong supports for the economy coming, not least of which are lower inflation and lower interest rates.
What are we thinking about the future?
Stability and bankable growth were in favour over August, with valuation taking a back seat. Companies that missed expectations were treated harshly.
This reopened the valuation gap between stocks with predictable earnings and those leveraged to a recovery in discretionary demand. Current demand conditions in many industries are worse than during the Global Financial Crisis. Our fundamental approach looks to sustainable earnings, which will be well above current bottom of cycle levels for many of these companies. We continued to add to cheaply priced companies with strong earnings leverage to an eventual recovery.
We supported the Sky City equity raise, seeing valuation upside from our analysis of sustainable earnings and asset backing.
This is not a recommendation to buy or sell any financial product and does not take your personal circumstances into account. All opinions reflect our judgement on the date of communication and may change without notice. Past performance is not a reliable guide to future performance. We recommend you take financial advice before making investment decisions. We have prepared this web page in good faith based on information obtained from other sources, but we do not guarantee the accuracy of that information. We do not make any representation or warranty (express or implied) that this web page is accurate, complete, or current and to the maximum extent permitted by law disclaim any liability for loss which may be incurred by any person relying on this web page.
