Public Trust Full Year Results 2011

Public Trust has reported a $0.6 million profit after tax, $0.2 million ahead of plan, for the financial year ended 30 June 2011.

“The events during the financial year, particularly the Canterbury earthquakes and the Pike River mine tragedy, will be remembered as having reshaped New Zealand’s history. The Canterbury earthquakes have also had a significant impact on our people, customers and operations, with all three existing Christchurch premises left un-tenantable after the February 2011 earthquake,” said Public Trust Chair, Trevor Janes.

The earthquakes and subsequent recovery effort resulted in a net impact of $1.7 million. Revenues were impacted by $1.1 million and additional costs of $1.9 million were incurred. This was partly offset by $1.3 million in interim insurance recoveries. An additional $2.0 million was also invested in the establishment of three new Christchurch sites. “We remain committed to the region and to offering continued support to our customers and employees,” said Mr Janes.

“For Public Trust to achieve a profit that was ahead of plan, while responding effectively to significant challenges and events, is encouraging and shows continued progress towards reaching financial sustainability.”

Commenting on the result, Public Trust Chief Executive, Grenville Gaskell said, “Our focus is on short-term performance improvement, including changing the revenue mix, as we continue to implement an extensive change programme to ensure long term sustainability.”

Total fee revenue increased by 3.4% year-on-year to $39.8 million with all business segments contributing to this growth. Operating costs increased to 0.9% year-on-year, $1.1 million below budget. Furthermore, Corporate Trustee Services increased funds under supervision by $6 billion to $35 billion.

The increase in fee revenue and tight operating cost management helped minimise the impact of the expected decrease in Common Fund revenue, which reduced by $2.6 million or 13.8%. The Common Fund’s share of total revenue reduced from 31% to 27% year-on-year.

Throughout the financial year Public Trust has continued to implement key strategies aimed at ensuring the organisation’s ongoing relevance to New Zealanders. This included the launch of the Public Trust Investment Service, designed to cater to investors’ needs with a range of tailored portfolio solutions. The offering provides customers with quality investment advice and comprehensive reporting.

“We continue to see improvements in customer service quality. Our customer satisfaction increased from 70% to 81% and we achieved a Net Promoter Score (NPS) of 23, up from 18 in 2009/10 for personal and business customers. Our Corporate Trust business also achieved an outstanding result lifting their NPS from 33 last year to 54 this year,” said Mr Gaskell.

Reflecting on the 2010/11 year Mr Gaskell concluded, “The progress achieved in the last year confirms that Public Trust is a stronger organisation now than it was a year ago. While the next year presents new opportunities and challenges, we have a clear strategy to ensure we continue to improve the business to better meet our customers’ needs.”