Contact maintains dividend despite first-half loss; retail struggles

Sun, 14 Feb 2016

By Pattrick Smellie Feb. 15 (BusinessDesk) - Contact Energy will pay an unchanged 11 cents per share interim dividend thanks to a 24 percent improvement in free cash flow, even though the electricity generator and retailer turned to a first-half loss of $116 million, mainly due to impairments to the value of its shuttered Otahuhu-B power station. Wellington-based Contact booked write downs of $233 million on the Otahuhu plant closure and $35 million from a decision that its Taheke geothermal prospect is "unlikely to be developed in the f...

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