EnergyAustralia has reported a 10% drop in power sales, with the company citing rising energy sales and consumers installing photovoltaic panels as key reasons for the slump.
The news led to a fall in revenues at the energy company, formerly known as TRUenergy, with earnings down 41.2% to $210 million.
“In our predominantly Victorian customer base, we saw a decline of around 10% in average mass market electricity consumption from 6.5 megawatt hours in 2011 to 5.8 MWhs in 2012” says Hong Kong parent, China Light and Power.
New Ten boss hopes to catch cricket rights
New Ten Network chief executive Hamish McLennan has announced the network aims to win the broadcasting rights to Australian cricket, in a bid to broaden the broadcaster’s appeal.
The broadcasting rights, which include Test matches, one-day matches, Sheffield Shield matches and the Big Bash, are currently worth $400 million over five years, although Cricket Australia hopes a bidding war against Channel Nine will push that figure up to $100 million a year.
Aside from the cricket, McLennan will also bid for the rights to broadcast the Australian Open in tennis, which is currently held by the Seven Network.
Patties Foods goes cold as supermarkets take a 16.5% bite of profits
Patties Foods has reported its first-half profit has dropped 16.5%, with growth in its petrol station and convenience store products failing to offset decreased margins from supermarkets.
“(Supermarket) revenue was flat and margins reduced during the period, mainly in the frozen fruit and fruit-pie categories. The commissioning of the new robotic packing equipment has been below expectations and has caused higher conversion costs and supply disruptions,” managing director Greg Bourke said.
The profit fall at the company, which owns the Herbert Adams, Four’N Twenty and Nanna’s brands, came despite a 5.1% growth in revenue.
Overnight
The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 0.6% to 13,920.39. The Aussie dollar is up to $US102.89 cents.
Andrew Sadauskas is a former journalist at SmartCompany and a former editor of TechCompany.
