Mercury slashes earnings guidance 11%

Low rainfall into Lake Taupō has reduced Mercury's hydro-electricity production on the Waikato River. (Source: Getty Images)

Pattrick Smellie

Wed, 09 Jun 2021

Electricity company Mercury has lost 100 megawatts of baseload generation for several months following the failure of its Kawerau geothermal power station two days ago.Notification of the breakdown accompanied a profit downgrade announcement to the NZX this morning, cutting expected earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, amortisation and changes in the value of financial instruments to $460 million.That’s an 11.2% reduction on previously announced guidance of $520m for the year ending June 30.The Auckland-based generator-retailer at...

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