High hopes for managing shares online

KENT BLECHYNDEN/The Dominion Post

EXPORT TARGET: A Wellington company is looking to crack the lucrative do-it-yourself share trading market with what it says is a unique online method of managing portfolios.

Relevant offers

IT & Telcos

EPMU prepares Visionstream campaign Welcome news as TV ad revenue increases Freeview uptake rising slowly 2degrees chief stepping down Spin muddies the waters Trade Me holds off on Google lists Eyede merger a 'smart' move Cranking up the creative juices MediaWorks reprieve on tax case Commission acts to remove barrier

A Wellington company is looking to crack the lucrative do-it-yourself share trading market with what it says is a unique online method of managing portfolios.

Sharesight managing director Tony Ryburn said the service was designed for the growing number of investors who traded their shares online and shunned brokers' custodial management of their portfolios.

After a year of development, the service is about to go to market in New Zealand, before being offered in Australia.

Mr Ryburn said the Web-based service provided accurate information on the performance of investors' portfolios, and automatically processed the numbers needed for accounting and filing tax returns, saving time and accounting fees.

Sharesight automatically calculated capital gains, dividends and currency effects over whatever period the user chose.

Other uses included quickly researching a stock's history, and comparing share performance against other investments such as bank deposits, property or finance companies.

Though investors knew exactly what their term deposits were earning, they were likely to have only a vague idea of the true performance of their shares, Mr Ryburn said.

Rod Drury, founder and chief executive of NZX-listed online accounting company Xero Live, had input into Sharesight's development.

He said it combined a sophisticated set of financial data with the growing practice of providing consumers with online software services.

By tapping into Wellington's pool of design talent, the company had come up with a highly practical and simple-to-use tool, he said.

Once the service had gained acceptance here, it would be taken to Australia, where almost 40 per cent of shareholders bought and sold from online brokers, Mr Ryburn said.

The company has provided free subscriptions to 300 investors to test the service and iron out any bugs.

It has collected 10 years of data from the Australian and New Zealand sharemarkets, building up a history of every share,as well as foreign exchange histories. Sharesight is serviced by feeds from the NZX and ASX.

Columba Cryan, NZX's head of information products, said the sharemarket was an under-rated investment choice and tools such as Sharesight were needed to make it an easy and transparent investment choice.

Subscriptions range from $5 to $39 a month, depending on options and the number of portfolios.

Sharesight's shareholders are Mr Ryburn, his son and marketing manager Scott, and Marcus Baguley and Nigel Ramsay, the company's technical consultants.

- © Fairfax NZ News