NGC rebrands in tough energy market

By Phil Boeyen, ShareChat Business News Editor

Thursday 22nd February 2001

Natural Gas Corporation's (NZSE: NCH) electricity business has shown a sizable drop in interim earnings and the company has announced it will ditch the TransAlta brand in favour of a new image.

The TransAlta name, which harks back to the former Canadian owners of the electricity retailer, has been seriously tarnished in recent months as the company faced public relations flak over its customer service and pricing.

Natural Gas says it will now combine the TransAlta and NGC/WEL brands with a new retail energy brand called "On energy".

In its half-year result NCH has reported a 51% jump in profit to $31 million for the six months ended December, boosted by a $4.7 million one-off payment from a gas turbine supplier.

The profit figure also includes trading from its takeover of TransAlta, which was completed at the beginning of November last year.

Sales revenue for the company leapt to $635 million from $196 million the previous year.

In a separate set of accounts showing TransAlta figures, the electricity retailer's profit fell to $26 million from $38 million the previous year.

This included a drop in sales from $774 million in the half year ended December 1999 to $447 million.

TransAlta is believed to have been one of the biggest losers in terms of customers in the deregulated electricity market, with an estimated 60,000 switching their business to rival retailers in the second half of last year.

Comments from our readers

No comments yet