Latest / The SME Stream / Energy crisis The financial impact revealed [VIDEO]

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Energy crisis The financial impact revealed [VIDEO] · The SME Stream

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: The information provided in this program is of a general
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: nature and it is not intended to be personalized financial advice.
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: We encourage you to seek appropriate advice from a qualified
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: professional to suit your individual circumstances. The energy supply squeeze
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: is now impacting the bottom line of some of our
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: major listed power companies. New measures are being brought in
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: every week to try to help, but investors are understandably nervous.
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  Speaker 2: We are in the business of producing electricity. We should
• 0:27
  Speaker 2: own that risk. I'm absolutely sure we should own that risk,
• 0:31
  Speaker 2: and we should. We should be responsible for managing that risk.
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  Speaker 2: And if we do a good job of doing it,
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  Speaker 2: our investors will be happy, and if they do a
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  Speaker 2: bad job of owning it, our investors will sack us.
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  Speaker 1: The squeeze on energy supply is tightening, with hydro Lakes
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  Speaker 1: Andy record low levels for this time of year. The
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  Speaker 1: industry is struggling and the flow on effect is worsening.
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  Speaker 1: Mercury Energy is warning it'll take a ninety million dollar
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  Speaker 1: hit from the current situation, given about half of the
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  Speaker 1: power it generates comes from hydro dams, a third is
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: from geothermal sites, and.
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  Speaker 2: The rest from wind.
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  Speaker 1: That portion's growing rapidly as it expands its wind farms,
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  Speaker 1: including one near Gore, which will be the second largest
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  Speaker 1: in the country when operational, helping to power the ty
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: Point aluminium smelter. But Ty is currently being forced to
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  Speaker 1: reduce production, with the latest cut enough to power all
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  Speaker 1: of the homes in Napier. It's one of many major
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  Speaker 1: manufacturers turning off production to help the constrained energy grid.
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  Speaker 1: Method x as idling operations in the Central North Island
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  Speaker 1: to provide gas to Genesis Energy to help power its
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  Speaker 1: Huntly power station, while the timber and pulp exporter in Napier,
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: Winston Pulp International, is considering ditching the country entirely. With
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  Speaker 1: energy reportedly making up forty percent of its operational costs,
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  Speaker 1: the flow on effect would impact in Napier ports earnings now.
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  Speaker 1: The grid operator Transpower is stepping in last week announcing
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  Speaker 1: it will allow hydrogenerators like Mercury to use back up
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  Speaker 1: water to alleviate the shortage. The industry is working on
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  Speaker 1: its own solution, more renewable energy. Mercury is committed to
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  Speaker 1: spend seven hundred million dollars on more renewables infrastructure, something
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  Speaker 1: that's outgoing. CEO is bullish on but how much we'll
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  Speaker 1: investors and consumers have to pay today to back up
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  Speaker 1: the system in the future. Well, then, thank you so
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  Speaker 1: much for doing It's great to see.
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  Speaker 2: You, No, thanks, Madison's great to be here.
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  Speaker 1: Let's talk about the current energy situation. I guess we
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  Speaker 1: can call it first, What are you calling it? Is
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  Speaker 1: it an energy squeeze? Is it a crisis?
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  Speaker 2: Give me a term. Look, I wouldn't resign from crisis personally.
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  Speaker 2: I did look up in the Collins Dictionary what crisis meant,
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  Speaker 2: so it means a situation affected by more than one
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  Speaker 2: major impact. And I think if we sit here today,
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  Speaker 2: it's been really dry and we've had a gas squeeze
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  Speaker 2: that nobody could have predicted, given the fact that so
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  Speaker 2: much money has been spent drilling holes over the last
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  Speaker 2: three to four years, and yet none of them found
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  Speaker 2: the gas that we expected.
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  Speaker 1: You have a lot of hydra lakes, how dry? How
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  Speaker 1: low are they right now? Give me the scale of
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  Speaker 1: the issue.
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  Speaker 2: So Mercury has got the Whitecuto River system. So fundamentally
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  Speaker 2: Topo is is our storage. Once water comes out of Taalpa,
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  Speaker 2: it goes through the cascade of power stations and the
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  Speaker 2: last one being Carapiro just before you get to Hailton.
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  Speaker 2: In the Waikato system, our inflows over the last financial
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  Speaker 2: year were at thirty percent of normal and Lake itself
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  Speaker 2: is down to it has been down as low as
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  Speaker 2: fifteen or sixteen percent of full for the time of year,
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  Speaker 2: so it's really really low. Now last weekend we had
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  Speaker 2: a bit of an inflow that's stopped it going down,
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  Speaker 2: but we really can't take it much lower than it is,
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  Speaker 2: and so that has that has been really challenging for
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  Speaker 2: not just mercury, but it's been really challenging because we
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  Speaker 2: would expect to be producing more from that resource.
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  Speaker 1: You're basically praying from all rain right now.
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  Speaker 2: I don't know about praying. I've heard people say praying
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  Speaker 2: or hoping. We all know it will rain. It always
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  Speaker 2: does it.
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  Speaker 1: We're waiting.
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  Speaker 2: We're waiting. And if we go back to the financial
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  Speaker 2: year before the last one, we had record inflows and
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  Speaker 2: in fact we had to spill water to stop flooding.
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  Speaker 2: So we spilt a thousand gig or what hours that
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  Speaker 2: year because there was nowhere to store it and it
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  Speaker 2: turned up. So volatility I think is an underlying factor
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  Speaker 2: in the resource system, and of course that flows through
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  Speaker 2: at times, at extreme times into prices. Most of the
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  Speaker 2: time it doesn't affect us.
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  Speaker 1: You sell guests here at mergery. Where are you sourcing
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  Speaker 1: that from? And I believe that not all of that
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  Speaker 1: is on long term contracts. You've had to fill some
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  Speaker 1: short term supply shoes. Can you talk me through that?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah? Sure. So we supply gas predominantly to households, so
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  Speaker 2: we're not a supplier to industrials or anything like that
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  Speaker 2: because we don't actually have any access to upstream gas,
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  Speaker 2: so we buy that in the market. Historically we've bought
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  Speaker 2: contracts off of various upstream players. Those contracts have drive up,
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  Speaker 2: so we're much more exposed to the spot market for gas.
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  Speaker 2: We're going to keep supplying our customers. I reassure our
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  Speaker 2: customers that you know, gas will still turn up and
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  Speaker 2: they'll be able to cook dinner and eat their homes
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  Speaker 2: or whatever else they use the gas for. But effectively
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  Speaker 2: we're buying that gas at spot because there are no
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  Speaker 2: contracts available. And as a consequence of that, you know, No,
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  Speaker 2: we're going to talk about results and to go forward,
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  Speaker 2: we will see we will see our gas costs going
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  Speaker 2: up enormously and that's that's just the reality of the
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  Speaker 2: current situation.
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  Speaker 1: So in the interim, major power companies like Mercury are
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  Speaker 1: having to wear this cost. How much is it costing
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  Speaker 1: your bottom line that you foresee at the moment, and
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  Speaker 1: how much could it cost if this.
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  Speaker 2: Well, the gas contracts we had started decaying off in
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  Speaker 2: the second half of the last financial year through through
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  Speaker 2: the year. We've signaled in the year coming that that
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  Speaker 2: will have a negative effect of about eleven million dollars
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  Speaker 2: to our bottom line.
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  Speaker 1: But add to that the hydro lake situation, it's a
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  Speaker 1: lot more than eleven million, isn't it.
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  Speaker 2: Oh yeah, well, again we have we're strong believers in
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  Speaker 2: being transparent about what we expect to happen, So we
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  Speaker 2: always give guidance as to where we think we're ad
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  Speaker 2: and we always also guide to dividends and things of
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  Speaker 2: that nature. So we've given guidance to EBIT DARTH earnings
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  Speaker 2: before interest, tax, depreciation and amultization, etc. Of eight hundred
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  Speaker 2: and twenty million for they twenty five year, the year
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  Speaker 2: we're in compared with eight seventy seven last year. So
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  Speaker 2: down that's driven by the increased gas costs and It's
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  Speaker 2: also driven by the fact that we're starting the year
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  Speaker 2: significantly down in the in the hydro lake. We'll still
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  Speaker 2: generate fully from our geothermal plant, will generate from our
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  Speaker 2: wind assets, but the hydro lake is down, and we're
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  Speaker 2: assuming within all of that that we start to see
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  Speaker 2: normal and we call normal fiftieth percentile, so there's a
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  Speaker 2: fifty to fifty chance of getting it hydrology from September onwards.
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  Speaker 2: And you know, I'm always a half good glass full person.
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  Speaker 2: I think you know if you're pretty depressing, if you're not.
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  Speaker 2: We are seeing a weather patterns shift beginning. But we
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  Speaker 2: will have to rebuild the lake because it's really important
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  Speaker 2: that Lake Talpa is near the top of its range
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  Speaker 2: in January, because we all know that the autumn is
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  Speaker 2: when the physical constraints occur on these complex things called
• 8:45
  Speaker 2: hydro risk curves that the transpower run and that protects
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  Speaker 2: next winter.
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  Speaker 1: On your earnings for the financial you you just reported,
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  Speaker 1: you gave that eight hundred and seventy seven million dollar figure.
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  Speaker 1: If we can focus on that figure and the fine
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  Speaker 1: print of your investor present take, it said that that
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  Speaker 1: increase on the previous year to eight seventy seven was
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  Speaker 1: partly due to higher wholesale electricity prices. It's very convoluted
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  Speaker 1: about how not power companies do or do not benefit
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  Speaker 1: from higher wholesale electricity prices. Can you explain to be
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  Speaker 1: explain to me how mercury may have in the year just.
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  Speaker 2: Endeds so effectively, we have very little exposure in normal years,
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  Speaker 2: and last year was a normal year to spot prices.
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  Speaker 2: So of all of all of the sales that we make,
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  Speaker 2: less than five percent of them are just purely exposed
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  Speaker 2: to the spot market. But that assumes we get normal
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  Speaker 2: influence now, so spot prices are volatile, they can be
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  Speaker 2: lower high, so that that piece, that piece we did
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  Speaker 2: get reasonable return on. And then most of our revenue
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  Speaker 2: comes from customers either comes and they're all fixed prices.
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  Speaker 2: So ninety eight percent of our actual volume is sold
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  Speaker 2: on fixed prices to families, mums and dads, to small businesses,
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  Speaker 2: large businesses, and to very large businesses. Now there's a
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  Speaker 2: there's a degree of uplift in that, but that uplift
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  Speaker 2: comes also from the fact that our total generation has
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  Speaker 2: gone up because we've invested in new plant So we've
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  Speaker 2: built new plants. So in the over the last five years,
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  Speaker 2: we have invested in new plant almost exactly the same
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  Speaker 2: amount of money as we've paid in dividends. And that's
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  Speaker 2: the that's been the growth story in Mercury. But you
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  Speaker 2: add on to that the fact that we did a
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  Speaker 2: transaction buying till renewables and we bought trust Powers retail,
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  Speaker 2: so our retail business almost doubled in size as well.
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  Speaker 2: So it's I know this all sounds really complex, Madison,
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  Speaker 2: but yeah, there are a whole bunch of layers in that,
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  Speaker 2: but I think it's really important. You know that we
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  Speaker 2: were there's a narrative that somehow we're not investing. But
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  Speaker 2: as I say, shareholders deserve dividends. Governments fifty percent of
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  Speaker 2: our shareholders, so they're getting those dividends, but at the
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  Speaker 2: same time investing in new plant and making sure existing
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  Speaker 2: plant is up to spec because remember our hydro system,
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  Speaker 2: our hydro plant, some of that is sixty and seventy
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  Speaker 2: years old, So if we wanted to last another sixty
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  Speaker 2: or seventy years, we have to invest heavily. So they're
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  Speaker 2: about they're about the same. That reinvestment and dividends.
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  Speaker 1: Well, who's ultimately paying for that reinvestment because if you
• 12:01
  Speaker 1: look at your volume weighted average price for their financial
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  Speaker 1: year just ended, it increased what nine dollars per mega
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  Speaker 1: what hour for household mass market you call it, and
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  Speaker 1: a little bit less eight dollars per mea what hour
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  Speaker 1: for industrial uses that large business customer base that you
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  Speaker 1: talk about. Is that ultimately the price that we're going
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  Speaker 1: to have to pay, especially going forward in this current situation,
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  Speaker 1: to ensure that we do have security of supply eventually
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  Speaker 1: and the future and aren't faced with this situation and
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  Speaker 1: conversation again, Look.
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  Speaker 2: I think it is. I think ultimately the new generation
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  Speaker 2: we want is whatever we build, whether that's solar or
• 12:40
  Speaker 2: whether it's renewable, when whether it's battery's or even for
• 12:46
  Speaker 2: those who would prefer to see utullar, even now those
• 12:53
  Speaker 2: that still say well that's a worthwhile thing, none of
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  Speaker 2: those things are getting cheaper to build. Inflation has been significant.
• 13:03
  Speaker 2: We in our investor presentation we showed the difference in
• 13:07
  Speaker 2: capital price between Cora Downs one, which we completed last year,
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  Speaker 2: and Caira Downs two, which you're doing now, which we
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  Speaker 2: are currently building. You know, the diggers are on there,
• 13:18
  Speaker 2: that we're making roads, and you know, and that plant
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  Speaker 2: you know, we're fully into that.
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  Speaker 1: What's the increase being in investment costs.
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  Speaker 2: And the increased work. I've got a number of sort
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  Speaker 2: of we're talking millions, right, We're talking we're talking a
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  Speaker 2: shift on a in a sort of twenty percent roughly
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  Speaker 2: twenty percent uplift in the dollars per megawatt capital cost.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, we're now seeing a lot of these large manufacturers
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  Speaker 1: are the cup production beooks, they're for stool or because
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  Speaker 1: they've at least been asked to help out the energy
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  Speaker 1: grid in the situation, some of them are considering ditching
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  Speaker 1: the country completely because the energy costs are so high.
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  Speaker 1: How do you see that playing out? Are you worried
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  Speaker 1: that you might lose your industrial customer base significantly or completely.
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  Speaker 2: I'm probably firstly worried about the impact on families. And
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  Speaker 2: you know, we hear, you know, the Central North Island
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  Speaker 2: being a great example, So that's that's always a worry,
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  Speaker 2: you know. I mean, we know, as we use the
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  Speaker 2: crisis word, and you know, we know we're working through
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  Speaker 2: a cost of living crisis and the crisis for families.
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  Speaker 2: So I'm definitely definitely worried about that impact in terms
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  Speaker 2: of how it impacts Mercury. I got to think, I
• 14:34
  Speaker 2: think we've got to look at the different arrangements that
• 14:36
  Speaker 2: are in place. So Mercury signed up a part of
• 14:41
  Speaker 2: the deal that resulted in t Y smelter stay. As
• 14:45
  Speaker 2: a consequence of that signing up to that, we're building
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  Speaker 2: Chira Downs two. We started within a week of that
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  Speaker 2: being signed, because that was a huge and huge overhang
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  Speaker 2: on getting new built done. Obviously, Meridians signed up with them,
• 15:02
  Speaker 2: and part of the deal was that built in some
• 15:06
  Speaker 2: ability for the Meridian to ask te why to shut down.
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  Speaker 2: And that's built into what is a very long term
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  Speaker 2: arrangement now just so happens within weeks of the first
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  Speaker 2: year that's been called on. T Y entered into that
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  Speaker 2: knowing that that was likely to happen to them as described,
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  Speaker 2: and that's how they did the deal. So in that sense,
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  Speaker 2: I don't think there's much risk of them feeling aggrieved
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  Speaker 2: about that. This is not the first time that we
• 15:39
  Speaker 2: can go back. I've been around a while. We can
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  Speaker 2: go back to two thousand and one. We can go
• 15:43
  Speaker 2: back to two thousand and three, two thousand and eight,
• 15:46
  Speaker 2: when the choices made about spot exposure have resulted in
• 15:55
  Speaker 2: them people saying well, actually we should contract for longer terms,
• 15:58
  Speaker 2: and some of the people that we've contracted for ten
• 16:01
  Speaker 2: years plus, we'll be sitting here today saying, thank goodness
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  Speaker 2: we did that. That's the right thing to do, because
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  Speaker 2: we're not in the power market. We're in the widgets
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  Speaker 2: market or whatever it is. So that is the reality.
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  Speaker 2: And I guess Grants Wanting Paul described that really quite
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  Speaker 2: starkly in your interview with him.
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  Speaker 1: So if we look at it from that perspective, then
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  Speaker 1: if you from that answer, I think assume that this
• 16:28
  Speaker 1: situation could If it doesn't force industrial users to leave
• 16:32
  Speaker 1: the country completely, it will at least encourage them to
• 16:35
  Speaker 1: not be exposed to wholesale electricity prices and prefer fixed contracts.
• 16:42
  Speaker 1: If more of them do that, then that exposes your
• 16:45
  Speaker 1: bottom line mercury the producers to that wholesale cost instead.
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  Speaker 1: So that's a risk for companies like yours are.
• 16:51
  Speaker 2: That it's the risk we should take. We are the business.
• 16:55
  Speaker 2: We are in the business of producing electricity. We should
• 17:01
  Speaker 2: own that risk. I'm absolutely sure we should own that risk,
• 17:05
  Speaker 2: and we should. We should be responsible for managing that risk,
• 17:09
  Speaker 2: and if we do a good job of doing it,
• 17:12
  Speaker 2: our investors will be happy. And if they do a
• 17:15
  Speaker 2: bad job of owning it, our investors will sack us.
• 17:18
  Speaker 2: And that's okay. And you know the fact that we've
• 17:23
  Speaker 2: had to announce guidance that's lower than last year is
• 17:27
  Speaker 2: because when we manage that risk, we manage across a
• 17:32
  Speaker 2: distribution of possible outcomes. But if you have an outcome
• 17:35
  Speaker 2: that's even further out, that's that's going to impact us,
• 17:38
  Speaker 2: and it is impacting us. So I because spot market
• 17:43
  Speaker 2: is not about it's not a place to be taking
• 17:49
  Speaker 2: risks in if you can't own the risk, and we
• 17:52
  Speaker 2: can own the risks. So the spot market is about
• 17:55
  Speaker 2: allocating resources. It's about determining whether we use water, we
• 17:59
  Speaker 2: use gas unfortunate the gas wasn't there when, or we
• 18:02
  Speaker 2: use coal at a time, or we go to we
• 18:06
  Speaker 2: go to the market and say we're willing to buy
• 18:08
  Speaker 2: back off of users, and we have bought back off
• 18:12
  Speaker 2: of some of our customers at the prevailing prices in
• 18:16
  Speaker 2: order to manage our risks. Now they choose to do that.
• 18:22
  Speaker 2: When they choose to do that, we're taking that risk
• 18:26
  Speaker 2: back in house as we should. In my view, Well,
• 18:28
  Speaker 2: that's very charitable charitable. I think it's a reality.
• 18:32
  Speaker 1: But how are you supposed to wear that risk, pay
• 18:36
  Speaker 1: for that cost to your bottom line through situations like
• 18:38
  Speaker 1: this while also spending, as you wish stated in your
• 18:42
  Speaker 1: press release, up to one billion dollars on renewables seven
• 18:45
  Speaker 1: hundred million already committed. How does that head up, Well.
• 18:48
  Speaker 2: It adds up because when we it adds up now
• 18:54
  Speaker 2: because these investments have long term investments that you know,
• 19:00
  Speaker 2: ultimately you build a new wind farm as we have
• 19:02
  Speaker 2: a Cora Downs having just so signed up twenty year
• 19:06
  Speaker 2: contract with ty, and that wind farm will operate for
• 19:12
  Speaker 2: the next thirty five years. When we reinvest in our hydros,
• 19:16
  Speaker 2: these hydros will still be here in fifty years, and
• 19:20
  Speaker 2: so we have to take a very long term view
• 19:23
  Speaker 2: of returns in order to make those investments. That's the
• 19:28
  Speaker 2: business we're in. That's the way we manage those risks.
• 19:33
  Speaker 2: And the best way for us to manage those risks
• 19:38
  Speaker 2: is to sign up longer term contracts with those that
• 19:41
  Speaker 2: are willing to Spelter has done that and with others,
• 19:45
  Speaker 2: and you know, can't name others that have done that
• 19:49
  Speaker 2: over the last few years when we signed those well
• 19:51
  Speaker 2: I can name one for instance, Amazon Web Services signed
• 19:54
  Speaker 2: up signed up ten fifteen year deal. I think it
• 19:58
  Speaker 2: was with our turretier south Wind Farm.
• 20:00
  Speaker 1: Well, that's a great potential demand source for you in
• 20:02
  Speaker 1: the future because data centers are chewing up power.
• 20:04
  Speaker 2: Yeah, so they signed up for the long term. So
• 20:08
  Speaker 2: our job is to manage long term electricity risk and
• 20:12
  Speaker 2: the associated risks and then provide provide whatever the customer
• 20:18
  Speaker 2: needs in order to run manage risks in their businesses,
• 20:23
  Speaker 2: whether that's data censors, making aluminum, doing forestry products, producing
• 20:30
  Speaker 2: milk powder, whatever it is. So I think, you know,
• 20:36
  Speaker 2: we have to get into that our investments get paid
• 20:40
  Speaker 2: off over a long, long period.
• 20:42
  Speaker 1: Of time, you know, coughing up with seven hundred mill
• 20:45
  Speaker 1: today for as.
• 20:45
  Speaker 2: Well, I'm spending the money over the next well, we've
• 20:48
  Speaker 2: spent well, we've spent best part of a billion dollars
• 20:52
  Speaker 2: over the last four and a bit years on reinvestment,
• 20:57
  Speaker 2: new assets, and like Karrapiro were completely replacing the machines
• 21:04
  Speaker 2: in the station. That's a ninety million dollar project over
• 21:08
  Speaker 2: three and a half years. And be doing that at
• 21:10
  Speaker 2: the moment because those assets will then pay off over
• 21:13
  Speaker 2: the next fifty years. But we won't get that straight away.
• 21:18
  Speaker 2: So this is a long term infrastructure asset business.
• 21:23
  Speaker 1: Investors are understandably nervous about all of this. We've got
• 21:27
  Speaker 1: the current situation, all of the multi factors that are
• 21:30
  Speaker 1: causing that, how that's impacting companies like Mercury's bottom line,
• 21:34
  Speaker 1: while you're also spending hundreds of millions of dollars on
• 21:37
  Speaker 1: renewable projects that, as you mentioned, take years to come
• 21:39
  Speaker 1: to fruition. What would your message be to them, stick
• 21:42
  Speaker 1: with you, trust you, You've got this.
• 21:44
  Speaker 2: Well, I've just spent two days talking with the investor's
• 21:48
  Speaker 2: post results. I think I think they're all far more
• 21:53
  Speaker 2: sophisticated than just trusting a person who happens to go
• 21:58
  Speaker 2: and sit and smile at them and say say the
• 22:02
  Speaker 2: right things. I think they actually look at the environment
• 22:06
  Speaker 2: we're investing into. So for investors, I think they have
• 22:13
  Speaker 2: they have viewed positively the clarity that we now have
• 22:18
  Speaker 2: around oil and gas, bands, clarity around onslow, the clarity
• 22:23
  Speaker 2: around where it's happening with t Y, the fact that
• 22:26
  Speaker 2: there is a fast track consenting process. Investors see that
• 22:31
  Speaker 2: as a more a much more clear environment that they
• 22:35
  Speaker 2: look in. Then they decide who they want to back.
• 22:38
  Speaker 2: Whether they want to back the Mercury team and it's pipeline,
• 22:42
  Speaker 2: or whether they prefer some other investment and not just
• 22:46
  Speaker 2: with the you know, the well known names, because there
• 22:49
  Speaker 2: are investors investing into solar who are startups. There are
• 22:56
  Speaker 2: small players looking for capital, well black Rock or one
• 22:59
  Speaker 2: of them, one of them. So look, this is a
• 23:03
  Speaker 2: place where investors have choice. I think companies like us
• 23:06
  Speaker 2: we have to give investors confidence that when we deploy capital,
• 23:10
  Speaker 2: we do it really well. Our projects turn out, they
• 23:13
  Speaker 2: turn out on time, they're on budget, and they work,
• 23:19
  Speaker 2: and they're going to throw the cash off over the
• 23:20
  Speaker 2: thirty years to get the return that eventually and turns
• 23:24
  Speaker 2: up in our dividend flow. And that's what. Investors have choices,
• 23:29
  Speaker 2: and they can sell out or they can buy in.
• 23:32
  Speaker 2: So we never take them for granted, and we just
• 23:35
  Speaker 2: try and be really transparent about what we're doing.
• 23:38
  Speaker 1: Speaking of the Mercury team, you're leaving next week, you're
• 23:41
  Speaker 1: on the way out. Where are you hitting off to?
• 23:44
  Speaker 2: Well Madison? As I've said, I'm actually a little older
• 23:49
  Speaker 2: than my boyish good looks.
• 23:52
  Speaker 1: Are you saying that not me?
• 23:55
  Speaker 2: Correct? For someone has to say it, don't they? So
• 24:00
  Speaker 2: I got my gold card at the beginning of the year,
• 24:04
  Speaker 2: and I promised myself that when I took this job
• 24:10
  Speaker 2: i'd do five years. Maximum. I would have done four
• 24:14
  Speaker 2: and a half years. Especially a strange time to be
• 24:17
  Speaker 2: leaving because I'm quite excited about what's going on at
• 24:19
  Speaker 2: the moment. But there's a lot going on. There's a
• 24:21
  Speaker 2: lot going on, But no, it's the right time. We've
• 24:24
  Speaker 2: got an excellent team, We've got a really smooth transition
• 24:27
  Speaker 2: occurring with Stu Hamilton taking over and just before and
• 24:34
  Speaker 2: I've got, you know, we've got a couple of grandchildren
• 24:37
  Speaker 2: that I'll spend a bit more time with. I'm going
• 24:40
  Speaker 2: to take the summer off and then I've sort of look,
• 24:42
  Speaker 2: i won't be doing any more executive roles. I've done
• 24:45
  Speaker 2: three chief executive roles over the last twenty years. Everyone's
• 24:50
  Speaker 2: been been a pleasure. This has just been super exciting
• 24:53
  Speaker 2: at Mercury. I think we've I think we've achieved so
• 24:56
  Speaker 2: much with the transactions we've done and the capital we've
• 24:59
  Speaker 2: did deployed. They are and I understand the frustrations that
• 25:05
  Speaker 2: we create because you know, in times like this, it's difficult,
• 25:12
  Speaker 2: it's difficult politically regulatory wise, and but most importantly, you
• 25:16
  Speaker 2: know there are people that suffer. So that's that's a
• 25:21
  Speaker 2: bit of a shame at this point going. But I
• 25:24
  Speaker 2: know it will it will rain. We will get through this.
• 25:28
  Speaker 2: We will build the stuff, We'll find solutions to gas,
• 25:32
  Speaker 2: whether that's LNG or domestic gas. Will accept a little
• 25:36
  Speaker 2: bit more coal in generation, but we'll push fossil fuels
• 25:40
  Speaker 2: out of industrials so that you know, our milk products
• 25:46
  Speaker 2: can be seen as as the cleanest and greenest.
• 25:48
  Speaker 1: Well, you are certainly a glass our film man, and
• 25:51
  Speaker 1: thank you for doing interviews with me through all of
• 25:53
  Speaker 1: your CEO roles over the years. And go well, good
• 25:55
  Speaker 1: to see events next our treat Thanks Madison Stock.
• 26:00
  Speaker 2: Why back by back by? Stop Supers