Fama and French’s (1999) internal rate of return method is applied to Datastream data from 1993-2001 for 81 non-financial firms listed on the New Zealand Stock Exchange. The nominal return on value is 7.09%. The real return on value is 5.07%. The nominal return on cost is 11.59%. The real return on cost is 9.48%. The 10 former state-owned enterprises have nominal and real returns significantly higher than the 71other publicly-listed companies and their capital structures and market-to-book values differ significantly. Return on corporate investment has been profitable but real and nominal compound returns and simple returns have declined over time.