Contact hints at capital returns, looks offshore for growth

Sun, 15 Feb 2015

By Pattrick Smellie Feb. 16 (BusinessDesk) - Contact Energy has given its clearest signal yet that it will contemplate capital returns to shareholders as the company settles into a no-growth mode in the New Zealand market and reported a 22 percent drop in underlying, tax-paid earnings of $76 million for the six months to Dec. 31. Over-supply of wholesale electricity pushed generation prices down during the period and Contact lost 6,500 customers while it dealt with teething problems in its new customer service software, which prevented th...

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