Oz AGL H1 Underlying Profit Down 20%

Australian energy retailer AGL Energy February 13 reported a 20% yr/yr drop in underlying net profit for the six months to December 31 (H1 2020) primarily due to the outage of unit 2 at AGL Loy Yang power station and reduced gas volumes.

Underlying Profit after tax in H1 was A$432mn (US$290mn) versus A$537mn in the same period of the previous year. “Underlying profit after tax was down 20% in the half, primarily due to the outage of Unit 2 at AGL Loy Yang, increased depreciation following record levels of investment in recent years, and the impact of market headwinds relating to lower year wholesale energy prices and reduced gas volumes,” AGL CEO, Brett Redman, said.

Total customer gas sales volume was 84.5 petajoules, a decrease of 5.9% yr/yr, the company said. Consumer customer volume was 32.2 petajoules, down 1.5% yr/yr; large business customer volume was 7.1 petajoules, down 29% yr/yr; and wholesale markets and generation volume was 45.2 petajoules, a decrease of 4% yr/yr.

AGL expects underlying profit after tax for FY20 to be in the upper half of its guidance range of between A$780mn and A$860mn. “Operating headwinds previously communicated to the market are expected to remain for the second half of FY20 and into FY21. These include lower wholesale prices for electricity and renewable energy generation certificates and increasing fuel costs as legacy supply contracts mature,” it said.