ANZ New Zealand chief executive Antonia Watson. Photo / Supplied
With annual report season in full swing for the big banks, shareholders can eyeball exactly how much their top executives are being paid.
Of course, figuring out which figure is the right one is always difficult given the multiple ways its can be reported: earned remuneration versus what the executives were actually paid in any given year.
Stock Takes likes to rely on the statutory remuneration figures as these have to follow the Australian accounting standards, even though some payments aren't included in this.
ANZ's annual report shows New Zealand chief executive Antonia Watson had a big jump in her pay packet in the last year.
Her remuneration hit $2.54 million (A$2.44m) in the year to September 30, up from $1.87m (A$1.79m) in the 2020 full year.
Watson's base salary rose from A$975,974 to A$1,042,346 while her cash incentive virtually doubled from A$334,681 to A$687,167. But it was the value of her shares, share rights and performance rights that all got a substantial boost over the year.
Former Prime Minister Sir John Key also earned a tidy salary from his role as board chair of the New Zealand bank and a non-executive director on the ASX-listed parent.
He received A$301,000 ($313,185) for sitting on the Aussie board plus another $391,000 for chairing the NZ board, adding up to just shy of $705,000 in total.
Departing Westpac New Zealand chief executive David McLean also received a substantial boost to his pay packet on retirement this year.
McLean officially retired on June 25. For the year to September 2021, his total remuneration was A$2.99m or $3.11m. That compares to the prior year when it was A$1.59m or $1.66m.
Notes to the accounts show McLean also stayed on in an advisory capacity until July 31 for which he was paid an extra A$97,249.
Another Kiwi-founded company could be set to list on the US sharemarket.
Sir Stephen Tindall, whose investment company K1W1 owns about 5 per cent of carbon recycling company LanzaTech, reckons it could go public within two to three years.
"It is going to be a bit like Rocket Lab which we are in, which has just floated on the Nasdaq - I would think within the next two or three years it will go public in the states."
LanzaTech began in New Zealand in 2005 and uses microbial technology that converts industrial pollution into fuel.
Following a successful trial creating ethanol at New Zealand's Glenbrook steel mill in 2008, LanzaTech demonstrated the technology using live emissions from a steel mill in China in 2008.
It shifted its head office to Chicago in 2014.
Tindall, who was the first commercial investor to buy shares in the company when it started out in Auckland's Devonport, says it has attracted $750m in capital from all over the world including some of the heaviest of hitters.
"The value of the company now would be about $1.5 billion - if we sold our shares we would get a massive return. But we are in there to keep supporting them."
But Tindall said K1W1 would weigh up whether to sell its shares in the future if the company listed.
"Then we can say, well, do they need our money any more or could we put that to better use for more things onshore in New Zealand and liquidate that asset.
"We are looking at that sort of thing all the time."
Tindall is not the only Kiwi with strong interests in the company.
The New Zealand Superannuation Fund owns about 16.6 per cent of LanzaTech, which means it too would cash up a fair amount if it sold out of the company.
Its largest shareholders are overseas-based, with investors from the US, China and Denmark featuring in the top three.
The New Zealand sharemarket is heading into the half-year reporting season for those companies with a March 31 full-year balance date, which could give some indication of how well they have coped under the latest lockdown.
Digital church donation business Pushpay is expected to report next Wednesday, followed by Mainfreight and Infratil.
Other big stocks like Kiwi Income Property, Ryman Healthcare and Fisher & Paykel Healthcare will follow the week after.
Adrian Allbon, Jarden's director of equity research, said Mainfreight had already given a trading update which indicated a strong result but he would be looking closely at the outlook for guidance on future demand.
"Are they seeing any pull forward of consumer demand in categories which are more suited to Mainfreight starting to ease with reopening activities, like people thinking about travel as opposed to durable spend?"
Allbon said Mainfreight had made market share gains because of supply chain congestion and its higher service offerings.
But he would be looking at how permanent those gains were likely to be.
Allbon said Mainfreight had also been lending its warehousing services to retailers to help them manage supply chain issues.
"Those sort of dynamics, on a longer term view, how permanent is that? Is it a normal feature or more of a cyclical feature given the state of the world at the moment?"
Allbon said there were really two features he was looking for in Kiwi Property's result - the magnitude of rent relief that it has provided to tenants in key malls, particularly in Auckland, and an update on the sale of some of its secondary malls in Palmerston North and Christchurch.
Kiwi Property owns Sylvia Park and LynnMall in Auckland as well as Centre Place and a 50 per cent stake in The Base in Hamilton.
"Those are the more strategic elements to update on."
Kiwi Property will be gearing up for the likely reopening of retail in Auckland next Wednesday, should the government proceed with moving the city into alert level 3, step 2.
Allbon said the experience in Australia pointed to a strong rebound in shopping post-lockdowns.
But he said based on the views of Jarden economist John Carran, the bounceback would not be as strong as what happened after last year's level four lockdown.
"His thinking is, most people are shifting to an endemic mindset. Yes, there will be the relief of being able to access a physical store ... but after that things will be more circumspect relative to the very strong rebound we had last time around."
But he said the reality was that no one really knew.
Allbon said he was looking for an update from Infratil on how it would use the proceeds of the recent sale of its stake in Tilt.
"There might be a slim chance shareholders get rewarded by that with the prospect of a special dividend."
But he said the real point of interest was how some of its big assets - Canberra Data Centres (CDC) and Vodafone - were valued after comparable listed businesses had suffered a downward rating lately.
"Spark has derated a bit on the rising interest rate theme. It's how people feel about that.
"But we do think on the earnings side it will be good momentum coming through from the likes of CDC."
Allbon said Infratil also offered investors some reopening leverage through the likes of its share in Wellington Airport, the return of roaming earning capacity through Vodafone and through its entry into radiology.
"There are lots of swings and roundabouts. Earnings momentum is fine, it is just how people feel about derating of core assets."
KiwiSaver hardship withdrawals have spiked to new highs.