Forum Archive Index - December 2000

["Baskerville, Rachel" <r.baskerville@auckland.ac.nz>]

Earlier this year I examined the reports of 160 defined benefit
superannuation schemes which file at the Companies Office. Of these 29 are
associated with 21 listed companies. Further to two unsuccessful efforts to
get this research published, my concern remains that companies in New
Zealand should be encouraged by their shareholders to make full disclosures
of the details of defined benefit schemes which they sponsor. Why? Because a
defined benefit scheme often controls assets which are directly or
indirectly utilised by the company. Companies can often (and many do) take a
contribution holiday or get a reversion of assets from the scheme back to
the company. Taking a contribution holiday reduces the superannuation
expense for the company.

On the other hand, there are also a few schemes in deficit. Schemes in
deficit are likely to represent a liability to the sponsoring company. It is
notable that none of the New Zealand listed companies whose schemes are in
deficit refer to the superannuation scheme in the annual report to
shareholders.

This information is in the public domain. But it does not appear in enough
detail in any Company reports, except for Fletcher Challenge which follows
the USA standard for reporting defined benefit schemes.  This information is
relevant to shareholders. There appears to be a lack of interest by
regulators or companies in making disclosures of this information. If you
would like a copy of a working paper concerning the research on this topic,
please email me: r.baskerville@auckland.ac.nz
<mailto:r.baskerville@auckland.ac.nz>

I do not have any interest in any of these entities. The reports filed at
the Companies Office as at January 2000 included
Schemes with accrued benefits (liabilities) more than assets
                Wrightson Retirement Plan
                Richina Pacific Superannuation Plan
                Brierley Investments Limited Superannuation Fund
                Ceramco Superannuation Plan
                Ports of Auckland Superannuation Plan
                Sanford Limited Staff Pension Plan
                Dominion Breweries (1986) Employee Benefits Scheme
Schemes with a small surplus
                Air New Zealand Limited Senior Executive Superannuation
Scheme
                R Hannah & Co Ltd Staff Superannuation Scheme (part of
Hellaby Holdings Ltd)
                Mainzeal Property and Construction Superannuation Plan (part
of Richina Pacific Ltd)
Schemes with a surplus over $1 mill
                Ernest Adams Ltd Pension Plan (1979) (part of Goodman
Fielder Ltd)
                Steel & Tube Industries Ltd Superannuation Scheme
                Natural Gas Corporation Retirement Plan
                Affco Staff Superannuation Plan
                Steel & Tube Group Pension Scheme
Schemes with a surplus over $5 mill.
                EMCO Group Limited Superannuation Fund (part of Steel & Tube
Holdings Limited)
                Hellaby Superannuation Fund
                Gordon and Gotch (NZ) Limited Superannuation Fund (part of
Independent Newspapers Ltd)
                Williams and Kettle Limited Staff Pension Fund
                DB Group Employee Benefits Scheme
                Fisher & Paykel Industries Limited Staff Superannuation Plan
                Carter Holt Harvey Retirement Plan
                Lion Nathan Employee Benefit Plan
                AMP New Zealand Staff Superannuation Plan 
                Westpactrust New Zealand Staff Superannuation Scheme



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