Contact declares a profitable year

Contact Energy made a profit of $280.9 million in the year to June.

The company today said that result included a one-off gain of $33.4m from the sale of the company's stake in the Valley Power Peaking Plant in Australia, and an $8.7m pre-tax gain in the change in fair value of financial instruments.

Earnings before net interest, tax, depreciation, amortisation and financial instruments (ebitdaf) of $557m for the 12 months was up 14 per cent on the previous year.

Contact said ebitdaf was the closest indicator of the company's underlying financial performance.

The flexibility of Contact Energy's natural gas-fired power stations helped ensure a secure supply of electricity during an exceptionally dry year, and delivered a solid annual result, it said.

Contact chief executive David Baldwin said the company's gas-fired plant was able to increase generation by 41 per cent in order to cover a significant shortfall in available hydro generation, driven by the driest year in the South Island in 29 years, coupled with a cold winter.

The company declared a fully imputed final dividend of 16 cents per share, payable on September 21, taking total fully imputed dividends to 26cps for the full financial year.

- NZPA