29 Feb 2012

Transpower to resume paying dividends

1:36 pm on 29 February 2012

Transpower will pay its first dividend in seven years despite a slight fall in its half-year underlying earnings.

The national grid operator says earnings before one-off adjustments fell 4% to $77.1 million in the final six months of 2011.

Revenue rose 5% to $379 million and capital expenditure almost doubled to $424 million because of the upgrade programme underway.

Transpower will pay an interim dividend of $110 million to the Crown in March, the first dividend payment since the 2004 - 2005 financial year.

Full financial accounts will be published after they are tabled in Parliament next month.