Bay companies post confident results

Two of the Western Bay's listed companies, Comvita New Zealand and TrustPower, have made confident starts to their latest financial year.
They both held annual meetings yesterday, providing first quarter updates to their shareholders.
Comvita chairman Neil Craig said in hindsight the company was overly optimistic about its revenue projections for the 2010-11 year and its (patent) litigation costs in Britain.
Total sales of its natural health products slipped from $85 million to $82 million and net profit fell from $5.6 million to $3.6 million.
But Mr Craig said in the first three months of the present financial year, Comvita's sales and earnings are better than in the same period over the past two years despite the strong NZ dollar.
"It is early days but we are comfortable we are going to have a significantly better financial result in 2011/12," he said.
Mr Craig said Comvita's investment in American manufacturer and distributor Derma Sciences had grown sharply in value and its Medihoney (wound care) range sold by Derma was now providing returns for Comvita.
Eighty per cent of Comvita's sales were made offshore and Mr Craig said gross margins were significantly higher than five years ago.
In the last financial year, Comvita continued to invest in several new projects with an overhead cost structure that was too high for the operating environment that evolved, said Mr Craig.
"We made the call not to downsize the business but to run with our existing infrastructure and complete these projects for the long term good of the company."  
Meanwhile, electricity generator and retailer TrustPower is satisfied with its year-to-date trading performance.
Its chairman, Bruce Harker, said generation of 705GWh in the first quarter was 27 per cent above the same period last year - included in that was a North Island hydro production rise of 73 per cent.
The soft wholesale electricity prices in the first quarter, resulting from the above average hydro storage levels, were beginning to firm, Dr Harker said.
Customer sales were down 10 per cent, driven by lower average power usage because of the mild temperatures in May and June.
"But this was changing," said TrustPower chief executive Vince Hawksworth. "We had our highest demand for the year at the beginning of the week", due to the cold snap that gripped the country.
Dr Harker said the retail competition was intense but TrustPower has held its own and targeted customer campaigns in Tasman, Dunedin and Southland. The total number of customers remained steady at 220,000.
TrustPower continues to grow its electricity production and will be investing in a 3.8MW hydro scheme in Esk Valley, Hawke's Bay, and expanding the Arnold plant near Greymouth.
It also has a resource consent for a 72MW scheme in the Wairoa Valley, Marlborough, and is looking to develop stage two of the Snowtown Wind Farm in South Australia.
Dr Harker said the introduction of a carbon tax in Australia would create an environment for further renewable energy development.
TrustPower directors Marko Bogoievski, Geoff Swier and Michael Cooney were re-elected at the annual meeting.
Jeff Williams stood down as director of Comvita after nine years and Neil Craig and Tom Cullwick were both re-elected at its annual meeting in Paengaroa.