Barramundi’s healthcare rebound lifts September-quarter performance

Portfolio outperforms benchmark in September quarter

Barramundi Limited (NZX:BRM) has posted a 3.0% gross portfolio return for the September quarter, more than double the 1.3% gain from its S&P/ASX 200 benchmark. Its adjusted NAV return was 2.4%, giving the listed investment company a stronger quarter after a bruising financial year.

The result is a meaningful improvement from the company’s recent performance, although it has not erased the longer-term damage. Barramundi’s three-year annualised adjusted NAV return stood at negative 0.2% at 30 September, while its five-year annualised return was 0.8%. The shares ended the quarter at NZ$0.44, compared with an adjusted NAV of NZ$0.53, representing a 17.2% discount.

CSL leads healthcare recovery

Healthcare produced one of the quarter’s sharpest reversals. CSL rose 63% after its core plasma division supported a recovery in FY26 revenue, with Fisher Funds expecting earnings growth to continue in FY27 despite pressure in iron deficiency and kidney care. Cochlear gained 16% after delivering a result that broadly met expectations.

The rebound builds on the August NAV recovery, when Barramundi reported a 6.7% adjusted NAV gain and a 13.2% discount to NAV. The manager said both CSL and Cochlear still had work to do to rebuild investor confidence after disappointing the market over the previous year, but meeting expectations in August was enough to lift their share prices.

Industrials provide broad-based support

Industrials supplied another substantial leg of the gain. Ansell climbed 45% in Australian-dollar terms after delivering 16% profit growth, helped by revenue growth, cost discipline and its ability to pass through tariff, freight and raw-material inflation. ResMed rose 11% after strong growth in sleep-apnoea devices and masks across key markets; management is targeting more than US$1.8 billion in shareholder returns through buybacks over the coming year.

PWR Holdings gained 28% after revenue grew by more than 30% during the year, while MAAS Group advanced 34%. Barramundi highlighted MAAS’s position in electrical work for Australian data-centre construction, with more than $1 billion of work identified, although delivery of that work remains an important condition of the earnings opportunity described by the manager. PWR’s larger Queensland manufacturing facility and new aerospace tenders were also cited as supports for future growth.

AI concerns continue to weigh on technology and classifieds

The quarter was less forgiving for technology and classified advertising holdings. Wisetech Global initially rose 22% across July and August before ending the quarter down 1%, while Xero rose 15% in the first two months before finishing down 21%. REA Group gained 14%, but SEEK and CAR Group fell 9% and 12% respectively as September brought renewed caution towards software and online platforms.

Barramundi said rising interest rates and fears of AI disruption weighed on companies with faster-growing earnings. It also said Wisetech’s customers were beginning to adjust to its new AI-centric pricing model, with price increases expected during FY27. Those holdings remain operationally sound in the manager’s assessment, but Barramundi acknowledged that the range of possible long-term outcomes is wider in an AI-focused market and said it had reflected that uncertainty in position sizing.

The quarter’s gain therefore represents a welcome change in direction, rather than a clean resolution of the portfolio’s problems. September’s rate-driven sell-off showed how quickly a strong reporting season can be overshadowed, while the 17.2% discount leaves shareholders exposed to both the value of the underlying portfolio and the market’s willingness to narrow that gap.