Mercury NZ's annual operating earnings fell 11 percent, less than forecast, as record geothermal production helped offset a dry spell in the North Island that weighed on its hydro schemes.
Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, amortisation and financial instruments declined to $505 million in the 12 months ended June 30 from a record $566 million a year earlier. That was better than the $495 million Mercury forecast in April. Forsyth Barr analyst Andrew Harvey-Green predicted earnings of $503.7 million as generation levels returned to normal in the second half of the year.
However, Mercury's net profit climbed to a record $357 million from $234 million a year earlier. That included a $177 million gain on the sale of its Metrix metering business. It sold the unit to IntelliHUB Group for $270 million. Revenue rose 11 percent to $2 billion.
"Making the most of the challenging hand dealt by Waikato catchment inflows and elevated spot pricing required a very strong performance from generation and wholesale markets teams in FY2019," chief executive Fraser Whineray said.
Mercury enjoyed two years of above-average inflows at its Waikato hydro catchment and generated a record 7,704 gigawatt hours in the 2018 financial year. Drier conditions in the North Island through much of the latest year saw Mercury generate 6,902 GWh, including a record 2,896 GWh from geothermal plant.
