Briscoe Group’s holding in KMD Brands has dropped in value by close to three-quarters in a year, after the Rebel Sport NZ owner opted out of KMD’s capital raising earlier this year.
Briscoe Group has written down its investment in KMD Brands by NZ$9.89 million (~A$7.93 million) in the first half of the 2026 financial year, leaving the stake valued at NZ$3.31 million.
The holding was worth NZ$13.2 million at the start of the year in January, and NZ$20.4 million in January 2025.
According to Briscoe Group’s interim report for the 26 weeks to July 26, the group did not subscribe for any new shares when KMD Brands completed its equity raising on April 22. That raising combined a placement and an entitlement offer.
KMD Brands closed its April capital raise, raising total gross proceeds of approximately NZ$65.3 million – which is what the company was targeting.
The shares were sold at NZ$0.06 per share.
As a result, Briscoe Group’s ownership interest in the Kathmandu and Rip Curl owner was diluted from 6.75 per cent to 2.67 per cent. Briscoe Group confirmed it did not sell any shares during the period.
KMD Brands then completed a 1-for-25 share consolidation on July 2. This reduced Briscoe Group’s holding from 48,007,465 shares to 1,920,299 shares.
The stake was valued at NZ$1.725 per share, based on KMD Brands’ NZX closing price on July 24. A year earlier it was valued at NZ$0.26 per share, before the consolidation. Adjusted for the consolidation, that is about NZ$6.50 per share.
Briscoe Group classifies the shares as a financial asset at fair value through other comprehensive income. This means the write-down flowed through its reserves rather than its profit and loss statement. It did not affect the group’s net profit after tax of NZ$27.6 million for the half.
The group’s total comprehensive income for the period was NZ$18.95 million.
The interim report gave no indication of Briscoe Group’s intentions for the remaining stake.
Briscoe Group, which operates Rebel Sport and Briscoes Homeware in New Zealand, recorded first-half sales of NZ$374.2 million. That was up 0.79 per cent on the prior corresponding period.