State-owned generator Meridian Energy Ltd will pay an interim dividend to the Government of $89.58 million.
The dividend for the six months ended December 31 was on the back of a $142.5m net profit after tax, a turnaround from the $20.5m interim loss a year earlier.
Meridian was confident it would post an underlying annual profit exceeding last year's result, under most hydrology conditions, chief executive Tim Lusk said.
The dividend, payable by April 30, represented 75 percent of interim adjusted net profit after taxation, in line with the company's dividend policy.
The company paid a dividend of $263.9m to the Government in October last year.
