STOCK EXCHANGE LISTINGS: NZX (MCY) / ASX (MCY)
NEWS RELEASE Investment in increased scale, higher generation drive Mercury results HY23 Financial Results Summary HY2023
HY2022
Change %
EBITDAF ($M)
451
242
86%
NET PROFIT AFTER TAX ($M)
230
427
-46%
UNDERLYING EARNINGS AFTER TAX ($M)
182
104
75%
STAY-IN-BUSINESS CAPITAL EXPENDITURE ($M)
31
20
55%
4,817
3,745
29%
8.7
8.0
9%
ELECTRICITY GENERATION (GWh) INTERIM FULLY IMPUTED ORDINARY DIVIDEND (CENTS PER SHARE) – TO BE PAID ON 3 APRIL 2023
21 February 2023 – Significant investment to increase scale and strong generation underpinned Mercury’s financial results for the six months to 31 December 2022. Hydro production was up 852GWh to 2,735GWh after Lake Taupō experienced its highest ever inflows for the July to December period. Wind production was also notably higher (up 201GWh to 788GWh), reflecting a full six months of generation across Mercury’s wind farms including from the newly commissioned Turitea North wind farm. “Wet weather has defined the period, in sharp contrast to a dry FY2022. In addition to producing the highest hydro generation volume in our company’s history, another 675GWh was spilled to maintain lakes within Resource Consent operating limits,” said Mercury Chief Executive Vince Hawksworth. The result also reflects a significantly larger retail business, primarily due to completion of the Trustpower retail acquisition in May 2022 and a full six-month contribution at increased scale. Mercury also acquired the outstanding shares in the broadband company NOW NZ in December 2022. “Mercury is a much larger business than it was this time last year, and it shows strongly in our result. We added 440,000 more connections from those two transactions alone,” said Mr Hawksworth. The company has recently embarked on a major period of growth, having spent more than $1.7b acquiring Tilt Renewables’ New Zealand operations in 2021, Trustpower’s retail business in 2022 and building New Zealand’s biggest windfarm at Turitea. While operating earnings (EBITDAF) were up $209m to $451m for the period, net profit was down $197m to $230m with the previous period including the one-off net gain made from the sale of Mercury’s shareholding in Tilt Renewables when Mercury acquired Tilt’s NZ operations in August 2021. The early exit of a long-term hedge with Norske Skog in HY2022, which reduced revenue by $65m in that period, also contributed to the lift in EBITDAF in HY2023. Operational expenditure was $54m higher than the prior comparable period while stay-in-business capital expenditure was up $11m, reflecting increased scale and activity across the business.