The news: Australia’s top energy retailer and gas producer Origin Energy has narrowed full-year earnings guidance for its main energy markets business amid favourable conditions.
The numbers: The company now expects underlying earnings at the energy markets business to be in the range of $1.3 billion to $1.4 billion, up from its previous estimate of $1.1 billion to $1.4 billion.
However, its UK renewable energy business Octopus Energy is now expected to report a full-year loss of 0 to $100 million, down from the previous guidance of up to $100 million profit.
The context: Origin said the upward revision in the energy markets business was due to operational improvements and wholesale portfolio benefits, with strong electricity volumes and generation performance, lower green certificate costs.
It blamed unseasonably warm weather in the UK in April and May as well as one-off impacts relating to the government’s price guarantee subsidy for the deterioration in Octopus earnings.