Australia's Origin Energy raises lower end of full-year profit forecast
May 26 (Reuters) - Australia's Origin Energy (ORG.AX), opens new tab on Monday raised the lower end of its previous fiscal 2025 underlying profit outlook due to operational improvements and wholesale portfolio benefits.
The energy retailer now expects full-year underlying earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) to be between A$1.3 billion ($844.35 million) and A$1.4 billion, compared to the previous outlook range of A$1.1 billion to A$1.4 billion.
Origin also said it now projects a loss of up to A$100 million in its share of annual underlying EBITDA from Octopus Energy, due to unseasonably warm weather across March and April in the United Kingdom and one-off impacts. Origin had previously estimated a positive contribution of up to A$100 million.
Earlier this month, Origin announced an anticipated cut in its EBITDA share from Australia Pacific LNG (APLNG) for the six months ended June 2025 after APLNG reduced prices on sales to China's Sinopec (600028.SS), opens new tab.
($1 = 1.5396 Australian dollars)
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Telegraph
an hour ago
- Telegraph
Reeves hands herself ‘dangerous' powers to control pension pots
Rachel Reeves has granted herself 'dangerous' new powers to direct where millions of savers' pension cash is spent. The Government's Pensions Bill includes sweeping provisions that will allow the Chancellor to force pension funds to invest in private equity, debt and land in an attempt to boost the UK economy. Details of the new legislation were published on Thursday. The Government has insisted that savers' interests will always be put first, with mandating powers only serving as a backstop to ensure investment in British assets. However, Sir Steve Webb, a former pensions minister, said: 'Legislating to allow governments to tell pension schemes how to invest is a very dangerous precedent. 'Whilst ministers offer assurances that this is just a backstop power that they hope not to use, the precedent has been set. This Government or a future government could use a power of this sort to promote their own political agendas, potentially to the detriment of pension savers.' Sir Steve, who is now a partner at Lane, Clark and Peacock (LCP), said the law left the door open to sweeping changes that could destabilise the market. The former Liberal Democrat MP said the powers could be used by a future Reform government to instruct funds to abandon 'woke' investments, including net zero, for example. Sir Steve said: 'We already have trustees whose job is to make sure that the member interest is protected, based on expert advice over things like investment strategy, and these decisions should be beyond the reach of politicians – of whatever party'. 'Very bad precedent' A so-called sunset clause in the Bill means the power to mandate investment expires at the end of 2035. However, Sir Steve pointed out that this still left the door open for a new government to instruct pension funds to invest in a whole range of assets. While a separate clause suggests a review of the powers 'must be conducted before the end of the period of five years beginning with the day on which the regulations come into force', Sir Steve said this would still be well into the next Parliament. 'As long as the sunset clause hasn't set, as it were, it is a power sitting there on day one. So a new government could come in, it doesn't need to consult, it doesn't need to draft legislation, and it doesn't need to spend nine months getting it through parliament. It's there and ready to run,' he said. The Bill, published on Thursday, hands the Government powers to 'prescribe' investments in 'private equity', 'private debt', 'venture capital' and 'interests in land', which it continues to say are just 'examples' of asset classes. The Government can also instruct whether those investments 'link an asset to economic activity in the United Kingdom' or even more directly are 'located in the United Kingdom'. Richard Tice, the deputy leader of Reform, has repeatedly said he will scrap 'net stupid zero' policies if the party forms the next government. Sir Steve said the party could use the Pensions Bill to partly reshape the investment landscape in the UK. He said: 'The Government has just given themselves powers to tell pension schemes how to invest. And these powers appear to run for at least five years from the passing of the Bill. So Nigel Farage may get to use them, right? 'So just imagine we have a Reform government that's not big on woke. And they say: oh we've got an act of parliament that already allows us to tell pension schemes they can't invest in net zero. 'The Government giving itself power to tell schemes how to invest, is just a very, very bad precedent.'
Metro
3 hours ago
- Metro
Do Trump's hardline tariffs and travel bans put off Brits from visiting the US?
Tariffs, travel bans, mass firings – if there's one thing you can be sure about with Donald Trump, it's that he'll make news. Constantly . That's even the case here in the UK, where most of his decisions have no direct impact. But is all that coverage having an effect on Brits hopping across the pond for a vacation? If you look at the dry numbers from the US National Travel and Tourism Office, you might think the answer is no. In January, the month of Trump's second inauguration, the number of UK visitors to the US was 5% higher than the previous January. February and April also saw more Brits going to the US than the same months in 2024, suggesting that far from putting people off, we may even be more keen to visit the country when it's run by Trump. ABTA, the British trade association for the travel industry, tells a similar tale. They 'haven't seen any significant changes in terms of UK-US travel post-Trump administration', a spokesperson told Metro, with 'no noticeable shifts away' from the States. But that may not be the full story. Australia-based tour company Intrepid Travel offers small-group trips to destinations as diverse as Nepal, the Galápagos Islands, Antarctica – and the United States. However, the latter has had a significant fall in interest over the past five months, with bookings from UK customers down 12%. That decline appears to be driven by one age group in particular: 21 to 30-year-olds, with whom bookings have fallen by almost a quarter. There was less of an impact for customers above that age bracket. Joanna Reeve, Intrepid's General Manager for the UK & Ireland, told Metro: 'While there is no way to know for sure what is causing the dip, negative perception of the US under the new administration could be playing a part in people's travel choices. 'New immigration rules and travel restrictions could be off-putting for potential visitors.' The country still remains popular overall, she said. According to the Office for National Statistics, the US was the sixth most popular country visited by UK residents in 2023 – though it wasn't far off Portugal and Greece in fifth and fourth place respectively. A survey for ABTA taken in summer last year – before Trump was elected, but while the presidential election campaign was in full swing – found the US came third after only Spain and France when people were asked where they planned to visit in the next 12 months. Even those who disagree with the direction of the Trump administration might want to consider visiting the US in order to mitigate its impact, Joanna suggested. She said: 'There are ways to travel there in a way that supports local people, like through supporting indigenous-led experiences. More Trending 'We're also encouraging people to visit and support the National Parks as they are facing huge cuts to their funding.' Interestingly, the attitude of young travellers with Intrepid – if they are indeed being put off by Trump – does not appear to reflect the broader UK. An Ipsos poll from just before Inauguration Day in January found 18 to 34-year-olds were the most likely age group in the UK to have a favourable view of the US President. However, 47% of Brits between those ages still disliked him compared to 31% who felt the opposite. Those aged 35 to 54 were 64% unfavourable, while 72% of those aged 55 or over felt the same. Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@ For more stories like this, check our news page. MORE: Donald Trump roasts Elon Musk and suggests he has 'Trump derangement syndrome' MORE: Donald Trump's travel ban isn't actually about protecting Americans MORE: Fears of a serial killer prowling Texas after 38 bodies pulled from lake in three years
Daily Mail
4 hours ago
- Daily Mail
EXCLUSIVE How a 'DOUBLE' pay rise is on its way for millions of Aussie workers next year
Low-paid Australian workers could be getting a huge 'double' pay increase of more than seven per cent in 2026 - with the likes of dry cleaners and restaurant staff to be the key beneficiaries. A major employer group has warned the potential pay spike could threaten the jobs of low-skilled workers, given it would follow the Fair Work Commission awarding a 3.5 per cent pay rise to 2.9million workers beginning on July 1 this year. That latest increase applies to workers on awards and the 200,000 Australians on the minimum wage. But a hidden clause in the industrial umpire's decision proposed scrapping a key employment classification, which could come into effect in July 2026. This would automatically grant a 3.6 per cent pay rise to the very lowest paid, regardless of the following annual wage review decision - because these workers will be moved on to a higher pay grade. This pay rise would also be on top of what the commission decides for an upcoming minimum wage increase in 2026-27. If it matched this year's 3.5 per cent increase, it would mean low paid workers are in line for a double-up pay increase of 7.1 per cent. Employer groups have warned the series of pay rises could lead to job cuts. But Tim Kennedy, the national secretary of the United Workers Union which represents the likes of cleaners and hospitality workers, said the minimum wage rise was about helping the lowest paid to survive. 'When workers can't afford rent, food or petrol, the wage floor is clearly too low,' he told Daily Mail Australia. 'The decision is a lifeline, but we'll continue fighting until wages are genuinely liveable for everyone.' Professor John Buchanan, a labour market researcher at the University of Sydney, told Daily Mail Australia the Fair Work Commission had a 'very timid' approaching to making wage decisions. 'They are very keen to ensure that their decisions are not seen as irresponsible and potentially behind a jacking up or a prolonging of high interest rates,' he said. 'The minimum wage and the awards system is about what kind of civilisation we are. 'Wages policy isn't just about economic efficiency and equations in an econometric model. 'This is the signal we send to ourselves and our society about how we treat the most vulnerable in the labour market and by having a wages structure that ensures those at the lowest reaches can live some semblance of a decent life.' Australia's 200,000 minimum wage workers on the existing C13 classification will be getting $24.95 an hour from July 1, following the latest increase. Their weekly pay is going up by $32.10 to $948, which translates into a $1,669.20 annual increase for those putting in a 38-hour week. Those working full-time on the lowest pay will be getting $49,296 a year from next month. There is a 3.6 per cent gap between the C13 classification, which the Fair Work Commission wants to scrap, and the better paid C12 classification, which those on the minimum wage could be transferred on to in July 2026. Workers on the C12 classification will be getting $25.85 a hour from July 1 this year. That equates to $982.20 a week or $51,074 a year. Minimum wage earners, now on $24.10 an hour or $915.90 a week, would effectively have enjoyed a 7.3 per cent wage increase in four weeks' time had the C13 classification been scrapped immediately. The Australian Industry Group's chief executive Innes Willox said the Fair Work Commission's proposed classification change for those on the minimum wage would threaten jobs. 'This would impose major cost increases on many thousands of employers in the hospitality, restaurants, clubs, horticulture and pastoral industries,' he said. 'There is simply no justification for such a large increase in minimum wage rates for kitchen hands, glassies, farm hands, hotel cleaners and similar low-skilled jobs, on top of the annual wage review increase that would also apply. 'Such a move would threaten the livelihoods of many business owners and the jobs of many workers.' But Prof Buchanan said a big wage rise for the lowest one per cent of workers, on the minimum wage, was hardly unreasonable. 'I've been studying, following wages policy now, professionally, since 1985 and I can't remember a time when any employer group ever has said, "This is a sound wages decision",' he said. 'If we had been listening to them for 40 years, people would be living on poverty wages - they basically cry wolf so many times, they lose all credibility when they make that point.' ACTU secretary Sally McManus said lower-paid Australians deserved to be valued at work. 'We welcome the Fair Work Commission's recognition that the real value of award wages should be restored, particularly for lower-paid Australians,' she said. 'Feeling more valued at work creates the working conditions for more productive businesses and a more resilient economy.' A change in classification would affect workers on awards covering manufacturing, hospitality, restaurants, clubs, horticulture and dry cleaning and laundry. Minimum wage workers received an 8.6 per cent pay increase in July 2023 when the old C14 classification was scrapped and something similar could happen in July 2026. The latest 3.5 per cent increase was well above the 2.4 per cent headline inflation rate and above the overall 3.4 per cent increase in wages for all Australian workers in the year to March.
