Contact Full-Year Profit Slips to NZ$237.1 Million

By Gavin Evans

Aug. 26 (Bloomberg) -- Contact Energy Ltd., New Zealand's biggest publicly traded energy company, said full-year profit fell 1 percent as gas costs rose and a lack of rain reduced output from the company's South Island hydro-electric dams.

Net income fell to NZ$237.1 million ($167 million) in the 12 months ended June 30, from NZ$239.6 million a year earlier, the Wellington-based company said in a statement to the New Zealand stock exchange. The result beat the estimate of about NZ$233 million, based on the average of six analyst forecasts compiled by Bloomberg News.

Contact, half-owned by Origin Energy Ltd., runs dams, gas- fired generators and geothermal plants to supply its customers. A lack of rain in the second half slashed generation from dams at Clyde and Roxburgh, forcing the company to buy power from rivals at prices more than three-times the average a year earlier.

``These conditions are having a significant impact on Contact's current performance,'' Chief Executive Officer David Baldwin said in a statement to the New Zealand stock exchange. Earnings may not ``significantly outperform'' the result reported today, he said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Gavin Evans in Wellington at gavinevans@bloomberg.net