The Manager

“We are stock-pickers and regard ourselves as business owners rather than share market investors. We believe that there will always be companies that will do well, irrespective of the economic or market environment. We are constantly searching for such businesses”

Fisher Funds is a specialist New Zealand equity manager applying its unique stock selection approach to the objective of achieving high absolute returns for its clients. Fisher Funds was established in April 1998 and launched its first retail fund in August 1998. The principal activity of Fisher Funds is managing the investments of several unit trusts which invest in smaller growing companies in New Zealand, Australia and around the world. Fisher Funds is also a Kiwisaver scheme provider and provides portfolio management services to a number of individual investors and trusts through its Private Portfolio service. 

 

In November 2008, Fisher Funds joined forces with HRL Morrison & Co to combine a well known fund manager in Fisher Funds with an experienced specialist infrastructure investment team in HRL Morrison & Co.

 

For more information please visit the Fisher Funds website.

S	Strength of the business What is the company’s competitive advantage? Is it sustainable? Is the company a market leader? Does it have a dominant position? A strong business is one that can maintain its profit margins by employing a unique strategy.
T	Track record How has the company performed in the past? Has the company performed under the same management team? Has it grown organically or by acquisition? How did the company react during a downturn? Fisher Funds prefers to buy established companies that have executed well in the past.
E	Earnings history How fast has the company been able to grow its earnings in the past?  How consistent has earnings growth been? We prefer to buy companies that exhibit secular growth characteristics where they have proven the ability to provide a high and improving return on invested capital.
E	Future Earnings Growth Forecast What is the company’s earnings growth forecast over the next one to three years? What is the probability of achieving the forecast? What do we expect the company’s earnings potential to be? We notice that too many analysts focus on short-term earnings. As long-term growth investors we think about where the company’s earnings could be in three to five years.
P	People/Management Who is the management team and how long have they been in their roles? Who are the directors, what is their history with the company, and what do they bring to the board? What is the depth of management in the organisation and is there a succession plan for the key executive roles? Does the management team own shares in the business and how are they rewarded? Has the board and management exhibited good corporate behaviour in the areas of environmental, social and governace considerations. For us, the quality of the company management and its corporate governance is of paramount importance.
P	Pricing/Valuation How much of the future earnings growth is already reflected in the share price? Where does the current share price sit in relation to our worst to best case valuation range? A company will generate a higher score where the market price currently reflects little of that company’s upside potential.

A portfolio candidate will only make it into our portfolio if it is at least as good as our existing portfolio holdings. We sell only when the fundamentals of the company or industry have changed significantly. We do not sell on the basis of share price movements (up or down) and the level of the market is irrelevant to our buying and selling decisions. We are primarily long-term buy and hold investors – rather than chopping and changing, we believe that we can maximise returns by investing in great companies and sticking with them.

Carmel Fisher, Managing Director
Carmel has more than 20 years’ experience in the New Zealand share market. She spent her early career with two share broking firms before moving to Prudential Assurance in 1988. She was responsible for managing several share funds including the top performing Emerging Companies Trust. Carmel joined Sovereign Assurance in 1994 to head its fund management division and left in August 1998 to set up Fisher Funds.  Carmel is responsible for overseeing the New Zealand portfolios.

 

Murray Brown, Senior Investment Analyst
Murray is predominantly responsible for researching New Zealand companies in the New Zealand portfolios.  Murray’s career prior to joining Fisher Funds in March 2008 has predominantly been in share broking, most recently with First NZ Capital where he was Director of Research.  In the 2006 INFINZ/National Business Review Industry Awards, Murray was also a finalist in the Research Analyst of the Year Award.

Ben Doshi, Chief Financial Officer
Bachelor of Arts (Hons) – Accounting and Finance (2004), Chartered Accountant (ICAEW – 2007)

Joined Fisher Funds in April 2008

Ben graduated from Bournemouth University in England after obtaining his degree in Accounting and Finance and went on to spend 3 years with listed accountancy firm Tenon where he qualified as a Chartered Accountant. In 2007 he immigrated to New Zealand and spent some time working for Grant Thornton in Auckland as audit senior before he joined Fisher Funds. Ben has kept his knowledge up to date by working in the industry, attending various seminars and external training courses.