Wind farmer Tilt Renewables (ASX:TLT) promised investors last year, when two New Zealand power companies were trying to take it out, that a pay day was coming.

That pay day has not arrived, at least not in terms of dividends or profits.

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Tilt cancelled its dividend this year in order to spend up large on new wind farms, and profits are down.

But for people looking for revenue growth, they’re in the money. Tilt says for the year to March 30 it made 22 per cent more money, which revenue coming in at $193.3m.

For profit watchers, the news was less clear. Only one of the multiple profit/loss numbers Tilt offers in its accounts is better than last year’s.

After-tax profit slipped 28 per cent to $12.2m, and total comprehensive income swung to a loss of $103.9m from a $1.6m profit the year before.

But on page 32 of its statutory accounts and filed under ‘Note A2’, Tilt unearthed a number it liked: underlying earnings hit $14m, up from a $9m loss the year before.

Stockhead is seeking comment from Tilt.

The company said generation from the company’s 322 turbines, spread across Australia and New Zealand, was up 14 per cent to 2.54 gigawatt-hours (GWh) after wind conditions returned to normal.

Last year Tilt was becalmed after the wind failed to blow at normal levels and swung to a full year loss (one that doesn’t appear in this year’s accounts, however).

Tilt went through a bruising fight last year with major shareholders Infratil (ASX:IFT) and Mercury NZ (ASX:MCY) which had offered shareholders $2.30 a share for the company.

Tilt convinced its investors this vastly undervalued its current assets and potential with the flagship 336 MW Dundonnell wind farm, for which it successfully won state backing under the Victorian RenewableEnergy Auction Scheme.

Tilt was trading at exactly $2.30 this morning.
 

In more ASX energy news today

US-focused oil produced Otto Energy (ASX:OEL) has bought the other half of a licence from fellow ASX traveller Byron Energy (ASX:BYE). The licence, VR 232, expires in 2023 and has already produced 2 billion cubic feet (Bcf) of gas and 30,000 barrels (Mbbls) of oil. But it is next door to Otto’s 50 per cent owned SM 71 producing field so it’s going to give the field a do-over to see what else it can find.

Byron, on the other hand, basically told investors it’d sold off a dud, saying “the new processing has shown that the three prospective lead areas previously mapped on the block are not supported by the new data”. It told Otto the partnership could give the lease up or Otto could have it. Otto chose the latter.

Kina Petroleum (ASX:KPE) has signed up a new COO to look after both the LNG arm and upstream production side of the Papua New Guinean business.
 
And after a year in the wilderness, it appears that blockchain is no longer a bad word. Vivid Technology (ASX:VIV) has publicly said it’s signed an MoU with a company called WePower to add data from the former’s lighting software into the blockchain backend of the latter’s green energy procurement system.

A little like PowerLedger, which is one of the few companies to do a successful initial coin offer in Australia, WePower also uses blockchain to create smart contracts that allow businesses to buy power directly from clean energy generators.