CEO Update

A message from Kristian Fok, Chief Executive Officer

Leading the way

It’s an exciting time to lead Media Super, with 2024 underway and marking the 40th anniversary of the founding of Cbus Super.

Employers have been a critical part of the success of our Fund. Your diligence – and those before you in Media Super – in making regular payments for your employees and encouraging them to check their super, has provided the best opportunities to achieve the retirement they would like. The benefits of scale are apparent with the Fund recently reaching $90 billion of funds under management^*.

Forty years ago, our founding members and employers joined together to create and launch the model that would establish Cbus Super and superannuation for building and construction workers. Together, we have much to be proud of – Print Super and JUST Super (Journalists Union Superannuation Trust) were established shortly after Cbus Super in 1987.

Strong, long-term returns and providing access to the power of compound interest have been transformative in providing members with comfort and security in their retirement. We thank founding members, unions, employers and leaders for their vision and hard work creating the sector in the 1980s, it’s left a lasting legacy.

Strong returns

In welcome news for our members, the Fund announced a strong return of 9.49% for its Growth (MySuper) investment option over the 2023 calendar year^†.

This is a great result given the volatility seen in financial markets during 2023 and adds to the strong long-term results we have delivered for members over the past 40 years. In a separate announcement, leading research, data and analytics provider Chant West, released their returns results and the Fund was confirmed in the top five performers over ten years.

These results are testament to the hard work of our investment team and the very high-quality portfolio it manages. Our investment options remain well diversified and all delivered a positive one-year return for the calendar year 2023.

Investing in our industries

The Fund has a focus on investing back into our industries, as an example we continue to invest in Fulcrum Media Finance. Following Cbus’ merger with Media Super in 2022, we increased the revolving loan from $60 million to $80 million. This investment is supporting jobs and productions across the country.