Already a subscriber?Origin Energy chief executive Frank Calabria says the major electricity and gas supplier’s huge increase in first-half profit compensates for the “unsustainably low” returns of a year ago, and will provide the capital to fund the energy transition.
“We are better if we are stronger if we are to invest in the transition and provide that support ,” he said.Shares in Origin gained 2.5 per cent after it reported net profit before one-time items that jumped to $747 million in the first half, up from $44 million a year earlier. Earnings rose both in energy markets, which include the retailing business with 4.6 million customers, and at the Australia Pacific LNG venture in Queensland.
Interim bottom-line profit more than doubled to $995 million from $399 million in Origin’s first result sinceOrigin declared an interim dividend of 27.5¢ a share, up from 16.5¢ a year earlier, with outgoing chief financial officer Lawrie Tremaine saying it reflected the confidence in where the business is heading as well as the strong balance sheet.“The board wouldn’t have determined a 27.
“Having gone through what we have gone through over the past 12 to 18 months it is appropriate that we just take into consideration all choices before us,” he said, pointing also to policy developments such asHe said that Origin’s original target to add four gigawatts of clean energy capacity by 2030 – which was dwarfed by Brookfield’s plan for 14GW over 10 years through Origin – should now be seen as the “starting point” given investments under way such as batteries at its Eraring and Mortlake...
But earnings from that business would decline in the 2025 financial year, Origin said, citing narrower profits from electricity retailing as tariffs follow wholesale costs lower.Households were hit with jumps in electricity tariffs last July of about 25 per cent on average, the second straight year of big increases as wholesale energy costs surged. However,Underlying EBITDA in energy markets jumped to $1.04 billion, from $231 million. Customer accounts grew by 56,000.
The integrated gas business, which houses APLNG, had a 5 per cent increase in EBITDA to $1 billion, buoyed by higher production.