Press Releases

Sydney, Jan 31, 2012 (ABN Newswire) - Independent energy retailer Australian Power & Gas (ASX:APK) today released its Appendix 4C report for the three and six months to 31 December 2011.

Reflecting seasonal trends, while customer payments of A$88.2 million were below the A$90.9 million recorded in the September quarter, operating costs were lower. As a result underlying operating cash flow increased significantly to A$9.9 million, up from A$0.6 million for the September quarter.

For the 6 months to December, continuing customer growth drove customer payments to increase by over 70% to A$179.1 million compared to the prior corresponding period. Underlying operating cash flow improved by A$7.5 million to A$10.5 million.

While the results show the strong growth that has occurred in activities, as noted in the company's statement of 21 December there has been a period of abnormally mild weather conditions in Victoria during the 6 month period. These conditions have affected electricity and gas consumption by Australian Power & Gas customers, which is down by 10% to 15% on historical averages. As a direct result of these usual conditions, customer payments of A$179.1 million were $31 million below forecast.

The company reiterates revised 2012 full-year guidance, as stated previously on 21 December, as follows:

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Customer accounts         360,000-380,000
Revenue                   $390m -$410m
Underlying EBITDA         $28m - $33m
Underlying NPAT           $6m - $8m
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Supporting the growth assumptions in this guidance, customer accounts are currently 328,000, up by 56,000 since 30 June 2011.

To view the complete Australian Power and Gas announcement, please refer to the following link below:
http://media.abnnewswire.net/media/en/docs/ASX-APK-665266.pdf

Contact

James Myatt Australian Power & Gas Tel: +61-2-8908-2700