Investment insights

Want to know the stories behind the numbers? We had Chris Grogan, Qantas Super’s Head of Defensive Assets and Deputy CIO, talk us through the latest market activity and what’s on the horizon:

Each asset class that Qantas Super invests in delivered positive returns for the 2023-24 financial year, with global equities the standout thanks to a return of 20 percent for the 12 months to 30 June 2024.

Chris explained that the performance underscores the importance of Qantas Super’s active approach to managing investments, and working with best-in-class managers around the world.

For example, one of Qantas Super’s listed equity managers, CQG Partners, delivered returns of over 36 percent for the 2023-24 financial year. Rather than investing through an index, Chris explained that working with managers allows Qantas Super a unique opportunity to get exposure to sophisticated investors.

While our investments have performed well, Chris added that what Qantas Super doesn’t invest in also helped the team deliver strong returns.

While super funds have traditionally invested in real assets such as unlisted property (typically office, retail, or industrial buildings), Chris explained that Qantas Super began looking at selling out of unlisted property several years ago, freeing the Investment team up to look at a broader range of alternatives.

“Qantas Super decided to start selling down property because the forward-looking returns didn’t look very attractive compared to other alternative investments,” Chris explained. “As we sold, we were able to buy into other alternative assets like timber (which has subsequently been sold) and agriculture, which have been very beneficial for our members.”

Traditional unlisted property, meanwhile, declined between 5 to 15 percent over the 12 months to 30 June 2024, with a few examples of even higher declines.

Over the last few quarters, we’ve been spotlighting a number of Qantas Super’s investments in the environmental, social, and governance space.

The latest we’d like to highlight is our investment with Longreach Maris, which has supported the creation of the First Nations Fishing Initiative.

This program is supporting First Nations mud crab fishers in North Queensland and abalone divers in Tasmania through investment in Individual Transferrable Quota (ITQs), which are then preferentially provided to First Nations fishers.

While fishing for mud crab has been a way of life for many Indigenous Queenslanders, barriers such as the high up-front costs of accessing fishing quota has kept them excluded from the commercial fishing industry.

As Andrew Spence, our Chief Investment Officer, explained, Qantas Super is committed to identifying compelling investment opportunities that deliver strong financial returns to our members while aligning with our values of positive impact and sustainability.

First Nations mud fisher Spencer Brown, who owns On-Country Seafood together with members of the Giangurra Aboriginal Community, has been fishing all his life, but has only recently been able to get into the commercial mud crab industry, thanks in part to his partnership with Longreach Maris, which has helped him secure quota.

Qantas Super and Longreach Maris also successfully supported an Indigenous Land and Sea Corporation (ILSC) grant funding application to purchase a new commercial fishing vessel for On-Country Seafood, which was delivered in May 2023.

Mr Brown said the initiative has played a critical role in getting his mud crab business going.

“I grew up learning to fish from Elders who would catch prawns and crabs to eat and to exchange for necessities, like flour and oil. Pretty soon I became interested in diving, and I worked on small pearl farms and catching aquarium fish. Moving to mud crab fishing seemed like a natural transition, but the upfront costs are huge,” he explained.

Dr Andrew Rado, Samuel Mann, and Karen Vickery from Longreach Maris, and Katharine Walsh and Andrew Spence from Qantas Super.

Mr Brown said he was contacted by Longreach Maris, whose staff also assisted him in applying for fishing permits and the ILSC grant.

“Without the partnership, we wouldn’t have got anywhere because the up-front costs are so high,” he said.

Now that On-Country Seafood is up and running, Mr Brown’s goal is to employ other Indigenous people and ensure they can also access the industry.

“I went into this so I could break the cycle of unemployment in my community, because a lot of people here have been unemployed for a very long time, but they can fish and they do fish every day, just not commercially. If we can employ them to do something they already do as part of their way of life, then it will lead to long-term self-determination,” he said.

Our Chief Investment Officer, Andrew Spence was recently a guest on the Investment Innovation Institute podcast. He talked through the investment strategy that he put in place at Qantas Super, the innovations along the way, and lessons learned. Listen here.