Kiwi Property bans freebies

Kiwi Property Group has featured anticorruption policies in a report accompanying its latest annual result, a steady after-tax profit of $120 million.

Kiwi Property is one of New Zealand’s largest property companies. It is best known for its ownership of Auckland’s Sylvia Park Shopping Centre, which is part of its $3.1 billion property portfolio.

To minimise bribery and corruption, Kiwi Property has set out a detailed corporate governance policy and a code of ethics, ‘‘which make it clear bribery can take many forms such as event tickets, flights or accommodation’’.

The company has an anonymous whistle-blowing system where fraud, corruption or any ethical breach can be reported.

The sustainability report said Kiwi Property made no political contributions, had no employees who have been dismissed over corruption, and nor has the company been fined or had penalties or settlements awarded against it in relation to any governance issue.

The report also covers protection of minority rights, director performance and remuneration, gender diversity, and conflicts of interest.

‘‘Given women make up 73 per cent of the company’s workforce, we have placed a focus on increasing the representation of women in senior roles,’’ the report said.

‘‘The new objectives focused on sourcing and attracting a broader candidate talent pool and identifying alternative recruitment channels in order to attract and source a greater representation of Ma¯ ori, Pacific Peoples, Asian and female candidates. We are proud of our achievements during 2018.

‘‘At March 2017, the representation of women in the leadership team was 17 per cent. At March 2018, this increased to

25 per cent and has subsequently increased to 36 per cent.’’

As a result of recycling, Kiwi Property’s buildings now send 9 per cent less waste to landfill than they did in the 2012 audited year – a reduction of 310 tonnes a year or enough to fill 507 jumbo bins.

Sustainable lighting and water use were also under the spotlight because

81 per cent of Kiwi’s carbon footprint was made up of electricity, waste and gas.

The company plants native trees in appropriate green spaces in and around buildings. It has planted about 35,000 native plants at Sylvia Park, and about

11,000 at Northlands mall in Christchurch. It has a non-binding memorandum of understanding with Meridian Energy, with a view to rolling out New Zealand’s largest combined solar installation across at least four shopping centres, making it the largest commercial user of solar energy.

The report also covers workplace safety and social programmes.

On the financial side, Kiwi Property’s income from rents and management commissions grew by 8.2 per cent to

$111.3m, reflecting a 5.2 per cent lift in rental income to $192.1m.

Upward valuations across the total portfolio were modest at just under $5m.

A full-year dividend of 6.85 cents per share will be paid to shareholders, up from

6.75 cents per share in the prior year. Kiwi Property’s buildings are 99.6 per cent occupied.