Trustpower pays special dividend as review of retail business continues

Tauranga-based Trustpower is considering a possible sale of its retail business to focus only on electricity generation. Photo / George Novak

Trustpower reported a 7 per cent rise in earnings and announced a small 'catch-up' dividend, but gave no outlook statement while a review of its retail business continues.

The Tauranga-based electricity company said in the year to March 31, earnings before interest, tax, depreciation amortisation and fair value movements (EBITDAF) of $200.2 million, a 7 per cent increase on the previous year.

Underlying earnings were up 25 per cent to $94.2m.

The increase came from the company's retail operations, which reported a 33 per cent rise in EBITDAF to $47m. Trustpower's retail business was a leader in bundling different products to offer to customers, adding mobile phone services in 2021.

Trustpower's generation business reported a marginal fall in EBITDAF of $154.1m, a fall of $100,000.

"Trustpower's balanced portfolio of geographically dispersed assets, an ongoing commitment to asset enhancement, and astute placement of product to market has seen us recover from a reduced half-year result to end the year in line with last year," chief executive David Prentice said.

In January, Trustpower announced a strategic review of its retail business, which could see the business sold, a move supported by the company's majority shareholder, infrastructure fund Infratil.

In April Trustpower announced it had received a number of indicative proposals to acquire the business and had progressed to due diligence.

This morning the company gave no update on the process and declined to give a statement on its expected outlook "once the results of the strategic review are known".

Chief financial officer Kevin Palmer said the company hoped to complete the process in the next one to two months.

The company will pay a fully imputed dividend of 17 cents a share, as well as a special 1.5c dividend which chairman Paul Ridley-Smith said was a "catch up" payment after Trustpower announced a slightly reduced dividend in May 2020 due to uncertainly related to Covid-19.

Trustpower's total dividend for the year is 35.5c.