Defining 'return on capital'

Presentation

Speaker(s): Sam Stubbs
Date: 5:00pm — 7:00pm, 30 October 2025
Venue: Dentons Wellington
Location: Level 4, 40 Bowen Street, Wellington 6011
Price members: $55.00 incl GST
Price non-members: $100.00 incl GST

Overview

Directors today are under pressure to deliver solid returns while navigating a slowly recovering domestic economy. Inflation is easing, interest rates are trending down, and there is cautious optimism for modest growth. Against this backdrop, boards must make smart choices about how they deploy capital – financial, human and natural – to balance short-term pressures with long-term resilience, impact and value creation.

Join Sam Stubbs, co-founder and managing director of Simplicity and former chief executive of Tower Investments, for a keynote session on how boards might approach capital allocation in this environment. Drawing on his leadership experience in New Zealand and international financial markets, Sam will share his perspectives on:

Managing competing shareholder expectations, including dividends versus growth
Considerations for not-for-profits weighing immediate funding needs against future success and sustainability
Innovative funding tools such as social impact bonds, green bonds and iwi-based partnerships
The role of scenario planning, mergers and joint ventures in building resilience and seizing opportunities

With stakeholders expecting boards to think creatively and look beyond quarterly results, Sam will explore with us how directors can revisit investment plans, adopt new financing approaches, and make targeted investments in technology, people and communities.

Sam Stubbs

Sam was most recently the CEO Of Tower Investments, a KiwiSaver default provider. Before that, he was Managing Director of Hanover Group and spent 10 years working for Goldman Sachs in London and Hong Kong. He previously worked for Natwest Markets, Fay, Richwhite and IBM New Zealand.

He has been a Board Member of the Financial Services Council and a member of the Government Taskforce on Financial Services.

Sam has an MA (Hons) from the University of Auckland.

Sam is the father of two children. He dreams of Simplicity and sailing around the world.

Additional information

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