Australia's AGL Energy rises on nearly threefold jump in FY profit, upbeat forecast
Adds shares in paragraph 2, analyst comments in paragraphs 8-9 and details
By Himanshi Akhand
Aug 14 (Reuters) -Australia's AGL Energy AGL.AX reported a nearly threefold jump in fiscal 2024 profit on Wednesday, boosted by higher wholesale prices, and also forecast better-than-expected underlying earnings for the current fiscal, sending its shares higher.
Upbeat results and annual forecast sent AGL's shares up 4.7% to their highest levels in one year, while the broader market .AXJO was up 0.6%, as of 0019 GMT.
For the year ending June 30, 2025, the power retailer expects an underlying profit between A$530 million ($351.66 million) and A$730 million.
The midpoint of the forecast range was ahead of Visible Alpha consensus of A$619 million.
AGL said the expected decrease in profit for the current fiscal mainly reflects wholesale electricity prices resetting lower through contract positions, consumer margin compression after heightened market activity and increased depreciation and amortisation.
Meanwhile, strong electricity demand, improved fleet availability, robust performance from its retail business and higher wholesale prices lifted the company's earnings to A$812 million, which was nearly triple the prior year's A$281 million, and the highest in four years.
The full-year results also reflected a solid earnings contribution from the Torrens Island Battery in its first nine months of operation, AGL said.
"The FY24 result continues to highlight the benefits of management's capex investment, particularly into greater reliability and flexibility of their coal fleet," Jefferies analysts wrote.
"And while earnings will slow in line with market expectations, we see current forward rates as favourable," they added
AGL declared a final dividend of 35 Australian cents per share for the year ended June 2024, above 23 cents in the prior fiscal.
($1 = 1.5076 Australian dollars)
Reporting by Himanshi Akhand and Sameer Manekar in Bengaluru; Editing by Pooja Desai and Sherry Jacob-Phillips
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