It may have taken a wishful takeover approach from an Australian superannuation giant to awaken the market to Infratil's value, but the investment company's share price is just one indicator of performance.
The Wellington-based company has delivered strong growth and consistent results over a long period of time, providing shareholders with an after-tax return of 22.7 per cent per annum over the past 10 years.
Even the global pandemic hasn't held the company back; an astute divestment of its stake in Tilt Renewables last year yielded $2 billion, enabling Infratil to diversify further and increase exposure to the fast-growing diagnostic imaging sector.
Well-governed and well-managed, Infratil has accumulated an impressive portfolio of assets across New Zealand, Australia, North America, Europe and Asia including significant stakes in Vodafone NZ, Trustpower, Australia's CDC Data Centers and US-based Longroad Energy.
It now has a market capitalisation of around $5.6 billion with group assets worth over $9b.
You could easily say, despite strong competition, that Infratil was an obvious choice to be crowned Company of the Year at the 2021 Deloitte Top 200 Awards.
As Deloitte Top 200 judge Neil Paviour-Smith, who is managing director of Forsyth Barr, remarked: Infratil stood out for its performance over 2021.
"The combination of strong performances with its investment companies, especially data centres, with its divestments and new acquisitions have added significant shareholder value," Paviour-Smith said.
"While Infratil has been an excellent long-term performer, its total shareholder return of 65 per cent in 2021 stands out."
In addition the company went through a fairly seamless transition of its chief executive from Marko Bogoievski to Jason Boyes and won its takeover battle with Aussie Super.
"New investments in medical diagnostics and Asian renewables provide promise of ongoing delivery," Paviour-Smith said.
The takeover battle with AustralianSuper played out in early 2021 after the pension fund made an offer initially of $7.43 a share, valuing Infratil at almost $5.4 billion.
Infratil's directors refused to engage in the belief the offer seriously undervalued the shares.
In fact, as Bogoievski told the Herald in a recent interview, they thought the takeover letter from AustralianSuper was a joke.
"If you turn up today with a credible offer, that's significantly higher [than the market price], you will get engagement.
"There's no doubt that any buyer that turns up with the right starting point, will get engagement. We didn't think it was the right starting point."
What the approach did do, however, was unlock value the market failed to see.
Infratil's share price leapt about 20 per cent, adding close to $1b to its market capitalisation and closing a long-standing gap between Infratil's net asset value and its share price.
Putting aside the takeover battle, 2021 was always going to be an interesting year, said new chief executive Jason Boyes.
"We had the strategic review of our investment in Tilt Renewables well underway and we were also focused on extending our exposure to the Diagnostic Imaging sector," he said, adding that the company also initiated a significant commitment to renewable energy investment in Asia.
"At the same time, other parts of our portfolio showed their resilience as we continued to navigate the impacts of the pandemic; Vodafone showed strong cost discipline and RetireAustralia delivered an excellent performance while prioritising the wellbeing of its residents."
"Wellington Airport undertook countless re-forecasts as it navigated the shifts in alert levels, all the while trying to remain upbeat about an eventual return to some level of normalcy."
At an investor day last month, Infratil discussed the challenges from Covid-19, particularly with Wellington Airport and its diagnostic imaging business.
The company downgraded the top end of its earnings guidance to between $500m and $520m, a second revision in three months.
In November, the company lowered guidance for Ebitdaf (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, amortisation and fair value movements) to between $500m and $530m from its earlier guidance of $505m to $550m.
"Covid-19 continues to impact the earnings of Wellington Airport and our diagnostic imaging businesses, which may persist for the remainder of the financial year," Infratil said.
Shareholders could expect modest growth in dividends, reflecting the expected growth in operating earnings from CDC Data Centres, Vodafone and the recent additions of Oscan and Pacific Radiology.
Boyes said one of the reasons Infratil has been so successful over the long term is its disciplined investment approach, while also making sure it supports the businesses in its portfolio, especially those most affected by the pandemic.
"We identify sectors which we have strong belief in, with a role to play in society that we see as both compelling and long-lasting.
"We also identify opportunities early, taking a position in a sector that is less established, or taking a position in a new geography in a sector we feel we are well-positioned to apply our expertise and experience."
A prime example is renewable energy where Infratil has been active since 1994 and has expanded its footprint in that sector to Australia, the US, Europe and now Asia.
Likewise, the company has taken its success and learnings from CDC and applied that further afield with an investment in UK data centres last year.
This year Infratil has significant capital to deploy but Boyes says the company is mindful of its long term shareholder return targets.
"We also remain very optimistic about the investment opportunities our current portfolio provides, whether it be through the global renewable energy platform we are developing or the continued expansion of Diagnostic Imaging.
"We are also working hard to communicate our view of the value of Infratil's investments.
"We acknowledge that we are quite complicated relative to other companies, given the breadth of the sectors we are involved in, so communicating how we see those investments being meaningful to an Infratil shareholder is fundamental."
Last month at its investor day, Infratil said it was relatively well-positioned to withstand the pressures of a high inflation environment and the ongoing pandemic.
Finalist: Skellerup
David Mair has the perfect response when congratulated on Skellerup becoming a billion-dollar company.
"I say that it's great that we've built a billion-dollar company but I'm focused on it being two billion," the long-serving Skellerup chief executive says.
Based on recent results that might not be that far away either.
Best known for its Red Band gumboots, these days the company produces a lot more — designing manufacturing and distributing engineered products for customers in a range of applications including dairy, wastewater, roofing, plumbing, sport and leisure, electrical, health and medical, automotive and mining.
Skellerup employs more than 800 people and now derives 80 per cent of its revenue from international markets. Award judges noted that Skellerup has been a consistent outperformer for some time and has traded well again in the past year.
"With the company exporting 70 per cent of its agricultural and industrial product, Covid has posed fresh challenges but their execution has been excellent," Paviour-Smith said.
"Skellerup has also benefited from a shift in strategic focus to original equipment manufacturer customers providing more resilient revenue and earnings."
Net profit grew by 38 per cent in the past year and with a total shareholder return of 114 per cent.
The share price is up about 50 per cent over the past 52 weeks, sending the company's market capitalisation past the billion-dollar mark.
Mair says making money for shareholders is important but not what gets him up in the morning.
"Our people, customers and the community are what really matters," he says.
Finalist: Freightways
Ask Freightways chief executive Mark Troughear how his company navigated the global pandemic and he immediately turns to rugby parlance.
"For us, it's a game that has ebbed and flowed all the way through, the key is to stay nimble on your feet and play the game at the right end of the field."
It's a game plan that has worked extremely well for Freightways, the listed logistics, freight and courier business that handles over 100 million items a year.
"We've got businesses that don't do lockdowns well at all, such as our document destruction businesses which have really struggled with no one in the office and less activity," Troughear explains.
"And then there's our courier business, which suddenly grew well beyond capacity when Kiwis started buying online all over the country in level 3 and level 2."
"The secret is how you adapt to that, where you scale up and how you redeploy the assets and the people where you have low demand. And I think that's what we've done pretty well this year.
"We've thrown people into our courier business like never before and when I look out at the yard, I've got general managers, sales reps, accountants, marketing people you name it out sorting freight, delivering freight and helping make sure we get through that period."
Paviour-Smith said Freightways had brought further innovation to its logistics business while having the tailwind of the big delivery wave during the pandemic.
The company had benefited from a much-improved performance in its information management business and a first full-year contribution from its Big Chill acquisition.
"This is the stamp of Troughear who has now been in the role for three years.
"Over the year Freightways grew its revenue by 27 per cent and its net profit by 35 per cent.
"This strong performance and the prospect of significantly improved returns from its predominant couriers business over the coming years, saw the company re-rated by the market with a total shareholder return for the year of 71 per cent."
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