NAPIER - Hawke's Bay-based electricity distribution company Unison has reported a profit of $18.1 million for the year to March 31, more than double the level of the previous year.
The result includes the first five months trading of the Rotorua and Taupo networks it bought from UnitedNetworks late last year.
The
purchases lifted Unison's customer base from 58,000 to 103,000 and increased its lines network by 2000km to 7490km.
Unison has total assets worth $393.5 million and revenue at $49.80 million was up 53 per cent based on short trading period of its Rotorua and Taupo acquisitions.
Chairman Forrie Miller said a direct comparison with last year's results was difficult because it was materially influenced by the sale of the company's last remaining electricity hedges for $5.55 million.
The $194.9 million purchase of the Taupo and Rotorua assets were funded by a syndicate of banks, led by the National Bank of New Zealand. The one off acquisition costs of $2.46 million was accounted for in the results.
Mr Miller said the company was concerned with the large amount of resources required to address industry regulatory and potential control issues. Compliance costs to meet regulatory requirements and to respond to draft regulatory initiatives doubled from $2 to $4 a connection.
The regulatory environment remained a concern for directors to the extent that any regime could impede long-term investment in the network to meet customer needs.
Chief executive Ken Sutherland said network reliability and security of supply to Hawke's Bay customers improved markedly during the year with the average interruption falling by 23 per cent from 101 minutes to 78 minutes.
The company, which gave its Hawke's Bay customers discounts totalling $3.9 million last year, spent a further $8.3 million upgrading the Napier-Hastings system and continued development projects in Rotorua and Taupo.
Mr Sutherland said the scale of the business now helped the company attract the best specialists in the industry and the response to the recruitment process following the integration of the Taupo and Rotorua operations with Hawke's Bay was great.
The company increased staff from 76 to 93.
- HAWKE'S BAY TODAY
