Transpower to pay $165 mln dividend to Crown as cost cutting boosts annual earnings

Transpower to pay $165 mln dividend to Crown as cost cutting boosts annual earnings
Paul McBeth
By Paul McBeth Aug. 17 (BusinessDesk) - Transpower, the state-owned national grid operator, kept its $165 million dividend payment to the government largely unchanged after a year of cutting costs saw a small increase in underlying earnings.  The Wellington-based state-owned enterprise will pay a final dividend of $99 million on Sept. 20 to its government shareholder, taking the annual return to $165 million, little changed from the $163 million it paid in 2016 when the return was trimmed on the expectation of smaller regulated returns. T...