The Treasury is disappointed with the performance of the Government's commercial businesses in the year to the end of June.
In its annual review of the Government's assets, it says the performance of the commercial companies had been mediocre.
Difficulties experienced by Solid Energy, KiwiRail and Learning Media dragged down the overall performance of the Government's commercial companies.
The companies, excluding KiwiRail, achieved total shareholder return of just 3%.
The Treasury says getting a better return from the Crown companies is a priority for this year.
While they performed badly, the Government's investment companies boomed with the New Zealand Superannuation Fund returning more than 25% for the year.
The report says all funds outperformed their respective benchmarks.