AGL underlying profit down 58% YoY in FY2022

A drop in trading and origination electricity earnings contributed to this.

AGL posted a 58% year-on-year decline in underlying profit after tax to around $155.6m (A$225m) during the financial year 2022 (FY22) which ended on 30 June due to the decline in trading and origination electricity earnings, and increased capacity costs during peak demand.

In a statement, AGL said its underlying earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation were down 27% YoY to around $842.2m (A$1.2b).

The lower earnings in trading and origination electricity were due to the lower realised contracted and wholesale customer prices. The increased costs of capacity during peak electricity demand periods and the absence of the Loy Yan Unit 2 proceeds also had an impact on AGL’s profit, said Managing Director and CEO Graeme Hunt.

“Other factors that negatively impacted the result included planned and unplanned plant outages, unprecedented market volatility and suspension, milder weather, increased residential solar volumes and margin compression via customer switching,” Hunt said.

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He added that this was partly offset by decreased operating costs which were down by over $103.7m (A$150m) in targeted operating costs compared with FY20. AGL is also on track with its target of a $69.1m (A$100m) reduction in sustaining capital expenditure by end-2023.

“AGL’s FY22 results delivered an Underlying Profit after tax within guidance, reflecting the resilience of AGL’s underlying business against a backdrop of challenging energy industry and market conditions that have intensified in the second half,” Hunt said.

The company’s total generation volumes were broadly flat at around 40,755 gigawatt-hours.

$1 = A$1.45