Andrew Harvey-Green: Forsyth Barr equity analyst on Contact Energy reporting record earnings

Contact Energy is putting serious thought into data centres, after reporting record earnings.

The gentailer's made a $423 million annual profit - up nearly 28 percent.

It's now in talks with Australian firm CDC Data Centres, for a 250 megawatt data centre in Taranaki. 

Forsyth Barr equity analyst Andrew Harvey-Green says CDC has a good track record, and grid and fibre connections are ready to go at the site. 

He explained Contact covers the generation side - so from an New Zealand-inc perspective, he's positive about what data centres could do. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
So Contact Energy has reported a record net profit of
four hundred and twenty three million dollars. That is up
nearly twenty eight percent on last year. Fullsyth Bar Senior
equity analyst Andrew Harvey Green is with us now, hy.

Speaker 2 (00:11):
Andrew hi Heaver.

Speaker 1 (00:13):
Is that about what you were expecting?

Speaker 2 (00:16):
Yes, it is, and there are I guess two main
reasons for why we have seen such a big increase.
The main reason is that earlier in this financial year,
Contact Energy are quite Manua Energy, which you may recall.
And then secondly, when we looked back at the last
previous financial year and that the one end of June
twenty twenty five that was heavily impacted by the winter

(00:39):
twenty twenty four. So what we've seen this year is
thermbal generation costs have gone down a lot, which has
helped the bottom line.

Speaker 1 (00:47):
How do you like the idea of that data center
partnership in Taranaki?

Speaker 2 (00:52):
Yeah, I know, I'm actually quite positive about that for
a couple of reasons. Really, I guess for the partner,
they've got CDC probably the best Australasian data center developer,
they've got a great track record, they've got the customers.
The site that Contact Energy has there is also a

(01:13):
very good one. So you've got the grid connection ready
to go, you've got fiber connections ready to go, and
obviously our Contact brings to the party that the generation
side of things as well. So you know, from a
New Zealand's Ink story, I'm actually pretty positive around what
data centers could do and I think this is a

(01:34):
positive step in the right direction.

Speaker 1 (01:36):
Any take on whether we should be expecting lower power prices, well.

Speaker 2 (01:41):
It depends which particular power price you're talking about, but
if you're looking at residential prices, the big thing that's
going to be happening over the next few years is
the lines charges are going to continue to increase and
that will probably offset some small declines we're going to
see on the energy side of the equation.

Speaker 1 (01:58):
All Right, Thank you Andrews. Andrew Harvey Green, who's a
full sized bar senior equity analyst. For more from Hither
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