The Auckland-headquartered company on Tuesday announced an after-tax profit of NZ$44 million for the half-year to December 2003, from total operating revenue of NZ$681 million.

Chairman Brian Corban and chief executive Murray Jackson said the latest results were consistent with those of the previous half-year, when a trading profit of NZ$40 million was recorded for January-June 2003.

However, they added that the continued growth in electricity demand over the past year had required the 1000MW Huntly power station to operate at higher average loads to cover Genesis' 8000 GWh retail business.

"Following a decline in available low cost gas, management has moved to secure additional coal supplies to meet forward generation requirements. New coal contracts have been negotiated, including 2.8 million tonnes over three years from Kalimatan, Indonesia," said Jackson.

Current expansion plans included commissioning of a 48MW open-cycle gas turbine at Huntly this May; completion of site works for the Huntly 385MW combined cycle gas turbine station known as E3P; construction of a 250MW capacity cooling tower at Huntly; expansion of the existing Hau Nui wind farm in the Manawatu; and plans to develop a wind farm on the Awhitu Peninsula south of Auckland.

Last month Genesis secured a 250PJ gas contract to ensure its investment in high-efficiency, gas-fired generation stations (such as E3P) and retail gas, through its NZ$33 million sale of a 50% stake in the Kupe oil and has field to Aussie operator Origin Energy.

The transfer of the former Todd Energy FreshStart retail base was completed last December and saw the Genesis group, including subsidiary company Energy Online, increase its numbers of electricity and gas customers to 611,000.