MCY Mercury NZ ( MRP Mighty River Power)

[peat]

I'm thinking they're still very exposed to dry risk. TPW generation is the same catchment kind of. Nth Is. mainly. Someone cant deliver what they don't have.

[huxley]

It’s interesting to read the news coverage, no one seems to be acknowledging that MCY CEO is the former CEO of TPW..

[Snoopy]

so ,,, MCY are not buying the power generating capabilities of TPW but they're buying the customers

and yet they havent been able to generate enough recently

???

The wind generation assets of Trustpower were moved into Tilt when Tilt Renewables was formed. So Mercury has bought the wind generation assets of the 'old' Trustpower. The Turitea Wind farm (total capacity 222MW when North and South sections are finished) is under construction and a second windfarm in the same area is already consented. All these wind farms are close enough to the Waikato catchment to allow dovetailing between the two generation sources (Wind & Hydro). The Waikato river system effectively becomes the battery for a wind/hydro system. It is true that hydro generation from the Waikato catchment has underperformed this financial year. But that doesn't mean a long term strategy as described will underperform over many years.

SNOOPY

[Norwest]

It's official, Mercury acquires Tilt Renewables’ New Zealand operations The SIA was originally entered into on 14 March 2021 and was amended on 16 April. Under the scheme, Mercury has now taken ownership of the New Zealand assets and PowAR has taken ownership of Tilt’s Australian assets. https://www.nzx.com/announcements/376610 In my opinion, this further solidifies MCY as the best gentailer on the NZX.

[peat]

It's official, Mercury acquires Tilt Renewables’ New Zealand operations The SIA was originally entered into on 14 March 2021 and was amended on 16 April. Under the scheme, Mercury has now taken ownership of the New Zealand assets and PowAR has taken ownership of Tilt’s Australian assets. https://www.nzx.com/announcements/376610 In my opinion, this further solidifies MCY as the best gentailer on the NZX.

and GNE is in there too...
I gathered GNE were the beneficiaries of Waipipi ??
https://announcements.nzx.com/detail/376548
but it cant be both them and MCY.

[JeffW]

and GNE is in there too...
I gathered GNE were the beneficiaries of Waipipi ??
https://announcements.nzx.com/detail/376548
but it cant be both them and MCY.

Mercury now owns it and Genesis has a contract to take the electricity

[peat]

Mercury now owns it and Genesis has a contract to take the electricity

Odd. Or it strikes me that way.

[mfd]

Odd. Or it strikes me that way.

Deal was made by Tilt I believe, so Mercury are stuck with it.

[Sideshow Bob]

MCY - resilient performance and ambitious acquisitions - NZX, New Zealand’s Exchange

MCY - resilient performance and ambitious acquisitions

17/8/2021, 8:30 amFLLYRMercury delivers resilient financial performance, makes ambitious acquisitions.
FY21 Financial Results Summary
[see table in attached news release]
17 August 2021 – The year ended 30 June 2021 saw Mercury deliver resilient financial performance, along with announcing two significant acquisitions to grow the company’s scale and capabilities.
Mercury reported EBITDAF of $463 million for the period, down 6% on FY20 EBITDAF of $490 million.

The operational result was adversely impacted by a sustained period of low inflows into Lake Taupo (for the second consecutive year) and an unplanned outage at the Kawerau geothermal power station in June.

The financial impact of this loss of generation was more acute than previous years due to historically high spot prices as a consequence of low national fuel (hydro and gas) availability.

Capital expenditure (capex) of $250 million comprised $56 million of stay-in-business capex and $194 million of growth investment. Operational expenditure remained broadly flat for the eighth consecutive year on a normalised basis.

Net profit after tax was $141 million, down $68 million on the previous year.

“Mercury has delivered a resilient financial performance in the face of some challenging market headwinds,” said Vince Hawksworth, Mercury Chief Executive.

“We have also made two ambitious acquisitions that will give Mercury additional scale and capability as we navigate a rapidly evolving landscape.

“The acquisition of Tilt Renewables’ New Zealand assets will increase Mercury’s total annual generation by over 1,100GWh. It has also secured several prospective development options.”

Construction of the Turitea wind farm also continues, with the transmission line, grid connection and northern wind farm substation fully commissioned. First generation has been achieved and Mercury anticipates the full completion of the 33-turbine northern section in the last quarter of 2021.

“These investments and our further pipeline of potential generation options are a clear demonstration of Mercury’s commitment todecarbonising the electricity supply, and investing for the future,” said Vince.

In addition to the extensive renewable generation pipeline, Mercury also reached agreement to acquire Trustpower’s retail business. This acquisition is subject to various approvals and completion of the acquisition is expected in the second half of FY22.

“We see Mercury’s and Trustpower’s retail businesses as highly complementary, and this agreement would see the best of both being brought together for our customers,” said Vince.

“Trustpower’s retail business is a leading multi-product utilities retailer selling electricity, gas, fixed and wireless broadband and mobile phone services to approximately 231,000 customers nationwide. The combined business would have approximately 780,000 connections across both energy and telco services.
“Bringing together the retail businesses of Mercury and Trustpower will also give us the scale to make meaningful investment in the underlying IT systems, driving greater innovation for our customers. Deeper integration of the two businesses is not planned until the underlying IT systems will enable improved customer experience.
“In combination, the Tilt and Trustpower acquisitions, along with our pipeline of renewable generation, will ensure Mercury has the scale and capabilities it needs to be able to thrive now and into the future,” he said.

OTHER KEY OPERATIONAL RESULTS
• A second consecutive year of low rainfall saw a decrease in hydro generation to 3,611GWh, well below the long-term average of around 4,050GWh.
• Geothermal generation for the year also decreased from 2,615GWh during the previous financial year to 2,594GWh, due to the outage at Kawerau.
• Rationalisation of existing assets, which included:
- The sale of Mercury’s interest in the US-based Hudson Ranch 1 geothermal power station joint venture, receiving net proceeds of NZ$41 million;
- Transfer of approximately 5,000 customers served under our Bosco brand to Mercury.
• Introduction of Thrive, a company-wide continuous improvement programme.
• Introduction of Whakapuāwai, a company-wide culture and capability programme.

DIVIDEND
The Board has approved a fully imputed final dividend of 10.2 cents per share (cps), taking total ordinary dividends for FY21 to 17.0cps, an increase of 7.6% on FY20. The dividend will be paid on 30 September 2021. This is Mercury’s 13th consecutive year of ordinary dividend growth.

OUTLOOK
“Across the industry in New Zealand, more than $1.5 billion of investment is already committed by the industry to the construction of renewable infrastructure. This means the country is well placed to increase the proportion of generation that is renewable from around 80% today to over 90% within five years,” said Prue Flacks, Mercury Chair.

“However, the current market conditions illustrate the challenge of ensuring the right balance is struck between investment in decarbonisation, security of supply, and ensuring energy is affordable.”

“Mercury strongly supports the goal of net zero carbon emissions by 2050, and we are well placed to play our part in achieving that goal. A key aspect is that policy certainty is required to send the right investment signals. One wind farm a year is required to be built to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2050. Delivering that outcome, while maintaining security and affordability should be foremost in the Government’s mind,” she said.

GUIDANCE
Mercury’s FY22 EBITDAF guidance has been set at $590 million with increased earnings from the Turitea wind farm, newly acquired Tilt Renewables’ New Zealand assets and our Thrive programme. Guidance at the time of this report assumes 3,900GWh of hydro production and is subject to any material events, significant one-off expenses or other unforeseeable circumstances including hydrological conditions. FY22 stay-in-business capex guidance is $70 million.
FY22 ordinary dividend guidance is 20.0cps, fully imputed, representing a 17.6% increase on FY21 and the 14th consecutive year of ordinary dividend increases.

ENDS

[Aaron]

Just got my invite to the AGM, notice the effort gone in to justifying the directors fees by the "PWC Reward Services Team". Average out the fees paid by other large companies on the NZX.

Perhaps a breakdown of hours required in the role, the amount of reading and industry knowledge required, whether there is a dearth of suitably qualified people. $98,000 seems a lot if you are just showing up to 12 meetings to rubber stamp the CEOs plans.

I guess you need smart people of a high calibre to ensure the CEO doesn't go crazy. I guess difficult to quantify but pointing to the other companies and saying "that is what they are getting" doesn't seem a very rigorous basis for deciding remuneration. Just jealous I guess.
Who would vote for me if I put my name forward next year.
Even if we had $100mill combined that is only 1% of the vote (based on current market capitalisation). Not that I know anything about power generation other than it is a license to print money. Be good if we were large enough we could take turns voting each other onto generous company board of directors.