Meridian Energy shares down as it posts HY profit drop

The news: New Zealand’s top power producer Meridian Energy has reported a lower first-half profit due to changes in the value of financial hedging instruments.

The numbers: Net profit for the six months to December 2023 fell to NZD191 million ($180 million), down from NZD201 million a year ago. However, revenue was up 43% to NZD2.11 billion. The company will pay an interim dividend of NZ6.15 cents a share, up from NZ6 cents a year ago.

Its ASX-listed shares were down 1.6% at $5.41 each.

The context: Meridian said the result was ‘solid’ overall, and was boosted by a lift in retail sales volumes despite a competitive market. Overall generation fell 4% amid reduced capacity due to the company’s long-running transformer reliability issues.

Meridian, which has been looking to grow its renewable generation assets, said it had made strong progress in building the Harapaki wind farm in Hawke's Bay and the Ruakaka grid-scale battery north of Auckland.