Milford Funds fee income soars 20 per cent to $73.48 million

Brian Gaynor is Milford's biggest shareholder with 22 per cent. Photo / Natalie Slade

Fund manager Milford Funds pulled in $73.48 million in management fee income for the year to March 2019, a 20 per cent increase on the previous year and more than double what it was earning five years ago.

Financial statements filed to the Companies Office show performance fees totalled $17.7m, about the same as last year.

Milford charges a base fund fee, a performance fee and an administration fee for KiwiSaver funds. The firm manages more than $7.5 billion of funds, making it one of the biggest non-bank-aligned fund managers in New Zealand.

While fee income has risen sharply since 2016, when Milford suffered from fallout from a market manipulation trial concerning former fund manager Mark Warminger, it's profit has fluctuated.

The latest accounts show profit after tax was $5.37m for the March year, down from $8.02m in 2018, which was up from $6.96m in 2017.

Milford Funds declared a dividend of $10m to its shareholder, Milford Asset Management.

The company's main expenses are the fees paid to Milford Asset Management, to cover staff remuneration and office costs.

During the year those expenses came to $59.01m, up from $42.8m in 2018.

"It is not possible to separately identify the amount of key management personnel's compensation within the total management services fee," the accounts say.

The firm recorded an income tax expense of $1.99m in 2019, down from $3.2m in 2018.

Milford was set up in 2003 and since then has been a regular recipient of industry awards, including Morningstar's fund manager of the year title in the KiwiSaver category for the last two years in a row.