Capral would be getting hit by the housing slump more than elec costs? Plus paying their CEO over $1M in ann salary would not help. As they employ in my area I would also hate to see them fold."
Nice attempted deflection, but even if Capral's CEO worked for free, the company would still be losing money.
And it's not just Capral: I own shares in a South Australian based zinc galvaniser (they dip metal in a molten zinc bath, which operates 24 hours a day). Clearly an energy-intensive business.
They had power costs soaring in 2016 and 2017 which was part of the reason they made a loss in FY2017 (the first time ever in their long history).
Since then they have had a number of competitors leave the industry.
And guess what the managers of the company I own did?
That's right; being the good Capitalists that they are, they duly jacked up prices (which they can now do with comparative ease given the diminished level of competition) to recover the increased power cost inputs.
And guess who wears the brunt of those structurally higher prices?
That's right: anyone involved in anything that is made from galvanised steel.
Which, essentially, spans just about every sector of the entire Australian economy.
