upgrades forecasts after half profit up 63pc08:52, Thursday, 19...

upgrades forecasts after half profit up 63pc
08:52, Thursday, 19 August 2004

Sydney - Thursday - August 19: (RWE Australian Business News) -
Alinta Ltd lifted net profit 62.5 per cent to $45.64 million in the six
months to June 30 from $28.09 million for the first half of last year.
Revenue rose 126.8 per cent to $434.52 million from $191.6
million.
Basic earnings per share rose 46.8 per cent to 25.4c from 17.3c.
Directors have declared an interim fully franked dividend of
15c, payable on September 30 with a record date of September 3.
This represents a 25 per cent increase over the dividend for the
previous corresponding period.
Chairman Mr Tony Howarth said: "All parts of the business
performed well and contributed to the strong financial results and that,
I believe, makes Alinta well-placed to report a solid result for the
2004 calendar year.
"Our result has been particularly strong in the retail sales
area, where increased industrial demand and a continued strong West
Australian housing market drove demand for gas.
"Our construction and maintenance subsidiary, National Power
Services, also performed solidly.
"The acquisition of Duke Energy Corporation's Australian energy
assets is complete and the integration is on track.
"There have been no negative surprises for us, and in fact we
are already starting to see the potential unfold.
"We remain confident in the gas throughput forecasts included in
the rights issue Prospectus in March.
"We are particularly pleased with the performance of the gas
transmission assets on the east coast of Australia with all pipelines
performing at or above expectations."

*****

Subsequent to the Duke acquisition Alinta provided earnings
guidance to the market of 27.6c weighted EPS for the 2004 year with a
target distribution of 38c per share.
Given the strong first-half performance by Alinta, the full-year
forecast has been adjusted to 32c–35c diluted EPS for the full 2004
financial year, excluding the gain on sale of Uecomm to be reported in
the second half.
Full-year dividends are now targeted to be 40c-42c a share,
fully franked.
Also, Alinta has deferred implementation of its stapled security
restructuring and will now be in a position to pay fully franked
dividends for distributions related to the 2004 and 2005 years.
Shares in Alinta yesterday fell 11c to $6.