Category Archives: KTB Annual Financial Statements

Kahukuraariki Trust – Performance Review – Fail

The Kahukuraariki Trust Board’s primary responsibility is to manage the settlement assets for its present and future beneficiaries.

The Kahukuraariki Trust have made serious losses over the past 5 years with little to no benefits passed on to it’s members:

  • 2021 – a loss of $380,000, due to excessive operational expenses of $800,000
  • 2022 – a loss of $630,000, due to excessive operational expenses of $929,000
  • 2023 – a loss of $570,000, due to excessive operational expenses of $1,200,000
  • 2024 – a loss of $187,000, due to excessive operational expenses of $1,000,000
  • 2025 – a loss of $55,000, due to excessive operational expenses of $1,000,000

A total loss of $1,822,000 over the past 5 years.

The Kahukuraariki Trust’s Milford Investment portfolio 5 years ago was $6.9 million, however its diminished to $5.3 million in 2025. The primary reason for these losses based on reviewing their published accounts over the past 5 years, is their continued excessive Administration and Operational costs.

What does the Trust intend to do about reversing these excessive Administration and Operational costs?

Kahukuraariki Trust Annual Report 2025 – Brief Review

From: graham.williams@wairuakiwi.com
Sent: Thursday, 18 September 2025 7:30 pm
To: Ripikoi JJ <jj@farnorth.me>
Cc: ‘April Hetaraka’ <ahetaraka@gmail.com>; ‘Hinepotaurangi Jean Joseph’ <jjhinepotaurangi@gmail.com>; ‘Roger Kingi’ <rateakingi@xtra.co.nz>; ‘Norm Mckenzie’ <norm.mckenzie@kahukuraariki.iwi.nz>; ‘Ana Hotere’ <anahotere@gmail.com>; ‘Waitangi Wood’ <tauihoitepotrust@gmail.com>; ‘Roger Kingi’ <roger.kingi@kahukuraariki.iwi.nz>; ‘Missy Rivers’ <missrivers68@gmail.com>; ‘Wilfred Peterson’ <wilfred-gina@xtra.co.nz>; ‘Annwyn Buchanan’ <cramond8@yahoo.co.nz>; ‘contactus@tearawhiti.govt.nz’ <contactus@tearawhiti.govt.nz>; ‘jevontracey@xtra.co.nz’ <jevontracey@xtra.co.nz>; ‘Marie Williams’ <marie.williams@xtra.co.nz>; ‘Edwin Emery’ <edwin.emery@gmail.com>; ‘Ronda Williams’ <rjwilliams679799@gmail.com>; ‘P.Goldsmith@ministers.govt.nz’ <P.Goldsmith@ministers.govt.nz>; ‘T.Potaka@ministers.govt.nz’ <T.Potaka@ministers.govt.nz>; ‘N.McKee@ministers.govt.nz’ <N.McKee@ministers.govt.nz>; ‘W.Peters@ministers.govt.nz’ <W.Peters@ministers.govt.nz>; ‘Janice Smith’ <janice@reretahiconsultancy.co.nz>; ‘Nicole O’Brien’ <Nicoleandjoepaultaemaro@gmail.com>; ‘Teresa Tepania-Ashton’ <teresa.tepania-ashton@kahukuraariki.iwi.nz>; Topaz Thomas <topaztyethomas@outlook.com>; contactus@tearawhiti.govt.nz
Subject: RE: Kahukuraariki Trust Annual Report 2025 – Brief Review
Importance: High

Kia ora JJ,

I’ve just finished reviewing your yet to be approved Kahukuraariki Trust Annual Report 2025 and Financial Statements, and it’s good to see that you’ve only lost $55k this year but also concerning to see that you have a huge dependence on the Crown (NROP – $505,000, Te Arawhiti – $75k, and Grants – $92k). If you hadn’t received these hand-outs, it would have been dire.

It’s great to see the Milford Investment portfolio performance in 2025 resulting in a net profit of approximately $335k, according to your Financial Statements, however the Milford Investment portfolio balance dropped from $5.5m in 2024 to $5.3m in 2025 due to withdrawals to cover your excessive administration and operational expenses. Your investment strategies over the past 5 years have failed to provide enough revenue to cover your operational expenses hence your losses.

As the Trust’s primary responsibility is to manage the settlement assets for its present and future beneficiaries, I’m concerned over the serious losses incurred over the past 5 years; 2021 – $380,000, 2022 – $630,000, 2023 – $570,000, 2024 – $187,000, and now in 2025 – $55,000, a total loss of $1,822,000. With the exceptional Milford Investment portfolio gains in 2020 of $1.5 million now fully extinguished. The Milford Investment portfolio 5 years ago was $6.9 million, however its diminished to $5.3 million in 2025. The primary reason for these losses based on reviewing your accounts over the past 5 years, is your continued excessive Administration and Operational costs; in 2023 – $1.2 million, 2024 – $1 million, and yet again in 2025 – $1 million. What does the Trust intend to do about reversing these excessive Administration and Operational costs?

I’ll leave others to comment on the inaccurate 2024 AGM Minutes, as yet again I was denied the opportunity to attend and speak as a non-registered member. I would however like to caution you about your intent to extinguish the rights of all non-registered members of Ngati Kahu ki Whangaroa from your Trust Deed, in particular changes to Clause 12 and the removal of Clause 33, both of which were intentionally afforded to all Ngati Kahu ki Whangaroa members registered or not by the Crown.

Could you please ensure that this email is tabled at your 2025 AGM as a matter of record?

Nga mihi,

Graham Williams

Member of Ngati Kahu ki Whangaroa

References:

Kahukuraariki Trust Annual Report 2025: https://www.kahukuraariki.iwi.nz/kahukuraariki-trust-annual-report-2025/

Kahukuraariki Trust Annual Report 2024 – Brief Review

From: graham.williams@wairuakiwi.com
Date: 19 September 2024 at 4:48:51 PM AEST
To: Teresa Tepania-Ashton <teresa.tepania-ashton@kahukuraariki.iwi.nz>
Cc: April Hetaraka <ahetaraka@gmail.com>, Hinepotaurangi Jean Joseph <jjhinepotaurangi@gmail.com>, Roger Kingi <rateakingi@xtra.co.nz>, Norm Mckenzie <norm.mckenzie@kahukuraariki.iwi.nz>, Ana Hotere <anahotere@gmail.com>, Waitangi Wood <tauihoitepotrust@gmail.com>, Roger Kingi <roger.kingi@kahukuraariki.iwi.nz>, Hone JJ Ripikoi <jj@farnorth.me>

Subject: Kahukuraariki Trust Annual Report 2024 – Brief Review

Kia ora Teresa,

I’ve just finished reviewing your yet to be approved Kahukuraariki Trust Annual Report 2024 and Financial Statements, and the Trustees may wish to have your accountant review your GM’s flawed analysis, as it implies that the operational loss this year of $187k are due to market highs and lows of the Milford Investment portfolio performance in 2024, which according to the details recorded in your published Financial Statements is clearly not true.

GM quote: “The Balance continues to show a healthy $19,541,930 equity (net owned assets), which is inclusive of the Milford Investment Portfolio. There is difference (a loss) of approx. $187,000, compared with last year, which in the scheme of investment market highs and lows, is not significant for long term investors like the Trust. Over the long term, invested funds will even out and will continue to provide a competitive rate of return as long as the majority of the quantum remains intact.”

The Milford Investment portfolio performance in 2024 resulted in a net profit of approximately $500k not a $187k loss, according to your Financial Statements. The Milford Investment portfolio balance dropped from $5.7m in 2023 to $5.5m in 2024 due to withdrawals to cover your excessive administration and operational expenses. Your investment strategies over the past 4 years have failed to provide enough revenue to cover your operational expenses hence your losses. It’s reasonable to accept losses for a year or so, but 4 years straight without even attempting to rein in your operational costs nor adequately adjusting your investment strategy is concerning to say the least.

The Trust’s primary responsibility is to manage the settlement assets for its present and future beneficiaries; however, I’m concerned over the serious losses incurred over the past 4 years; 2021 – $380,000, 2022 – $630,000, 2023 – $570,000, and now in 2024 – $187,000. The exceptional Milford Investment portfolio gains in 2020 of $1.5 million have now been extinguished as I predicted in my analysis last year. The Milford Investment portfolio 4 years ago was $6.9 million, however its diminished to $5.5 million in 2024. The primary reason for these losses based on reviewing your accounts over the past 4 years, would be the excessive Administration and Operational costs; in 2023 – $1.2 million, and yet again in 2024 – $1 million. What does the Trust intend to do about reversing these excessive Administration and Operational costs?

I’ll leave others to comment on the inaccurate 2023 AGM Minutes, as yet again I was denied the opportunity to attend, speak and vote as a non-registered member. Could you please ensure that this email is tabled at your 2024 AGM as a matter of record?

Nga mihi,

Graham Williams

Member of Ngati Kahu ki Whangaroa

References:

  1. Kahukuraariki Trust Annual Report 2024: https://www.kahukuraariki.iwi.nz/kahukuraariki-trust-annual-report-2024/

Kahukuraariki Trust Annual Report 2023 – Brief Review

From: graham.williams@wairuakiwi.com <graham.williams@wairuakiwi.com>
Sent: Wednesday, 27 September 2023 3:46 pm
To: ‘Teresa Tepania-Ashton’ <teresa.tepania-ashton@kahukuraariki.iwi.nz>
Cc: ‘April Hetaraka’ <ahetaraka@gmail.com>; ‘Hinepotaurangi Jean Joseph’ <jjhinepotaurangi@gmail.com>; ‘Roger Kingi’ <rateakingi@xtra.co.nz>; ‘Norm Mckenzie’ <norm.mckenzie@kahukuraariki.iwi.nz>; ‘Ana Hotere’ <anahotere@gmail.com>; ‘Waitangi Wood’ <tauihoitepotrust@gmail.com>; ‘Roger Kingi’ <roger.kingi@kahukuraariki.iwi.nz>; ‘Hone JJ Ripikoi’ <jj@farnorth.me>

Subject: Re: Kahukuraariki Trust Annual Report 2023 – Brief Review

Kia ora Teresa,

I’ve just finished reviewing your yet to be approved Kahukuraariki Trust Annual Report 2023 and Financial Statements, and the Trustees may wish to have your accountant review it, as there are mistakes in your GMs analysis which misrepresents the Milford Investment portfolio performance in 2023, compared to the details recorded in your published Financial Statements.

The Milford Investment portfolio performance in 2023 resulted in a net loss of $100k not $570k, according to your Financial Statements. The Milford Investment portfolio balance dropped from $6.6m in 2022 to $5.8m in 2023 due primarily to withdrawals to cover your administration and operational expenses. Your investment strategies over the past 3 years have failed to provide enough revenue to cover your increasing expenses hence your losses. It’s reasonable to accept losses for a year or so, but 3 years straight without even attempting to rein in your increasing costs nor adequately adjusting your investment strategy is concerning to say the least.

The Trust’s primary responsibility is to manage the settlement assets for its present and future beneficiaries; however, I’m concerned over the serious losses incurred over the past 3 years; 2021 – $380,000, 2022 – $630,000, and now in 2023 – $570,000. The exceptional Milford Investment portfolio gains in 2020 of $1.5 million are likely to be fully extinguished by 2024 at this rate. The Milford Investment portfolio 3 years ago was $6.9 million, however its diminished to $5.8 million in 2023. A major reason for these losses based on reviewing your accounts over the past 3 years, would be the massive increase in Administration and Operational costs relating to Staff Salaries and Trustee Fee Payments, which on average account for about 40-45% of the losses for each respective year. The Administration and Operational costs in 2020 were – $114k ($53k and $61k), in 2021 – $176k ($91k and $85k), in 2022 – $266k ($225k and $41k), and in 2023 – $287k ($227k and $60k). What does the Trust intend to do about reversing this trend of excessive losses?

Also, while reviewing the latest Financial Statements for 2023, I noted that the Trust received $376k worth of NIWA/VMC grants from the Crown and paid out $448k to NIWA for NROP. I note that the Trust doesn’t appear to record any equity interest in the NROP / Seafood International Ltd (SIL) entity. Why doesn’t the Trust own part of the NROP / Seafood International Ltd (SIL) entity considering they’ve contributed significant Trust funds?

I’ll leave others to comment on the inaccurate 2022 SGM & AGM Minutes, and the lack of an independent attendance register for the 2022 SGM, as I was denied participation in both as a non-registered member. Could you please ensure that this email is tabled at your 2023 AGM this coming Saturday as a matter of record?

Nga mihi,

Graham Williams

Member of Ngati Kahu ki Whangaroa

References: