Industrial sales and lower wholesale prices lift Contact 1H earnings

Industrial sales and lower wholesale prices lift Contact 1H earnings
By Pattrick Smellie Feb. 18 (BusinessDesk) – Contact Energy reported a 5 percent improvement in underlying earnings for the six months to Dec. 31, with improved sales to industrial and commercial customers and lower wholesale electricity prices offsetting lower mass market sales and weak overall demand. Statutory net profit, which includes the non-cash impact of items such as unrealised changes in the value of financial instruments, rose 27 percent to $112 million, while earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, amortisatisation and fair...