SSE 1st Half Profit Rose; Fiscal Year Performance Seen at Least in Line With Views

By Jaime Llinares Taboada

SSE PLC on Wednesday reported higher profit for the first half of the financial year, and said full-year earnings would be at least in line with market consensus.

The Scotland-based energy company made a pretax profit of 1.69 billion pounds ($2.27 billion) for the six months ended Sept. 30, up from GBP779.4 million a year earlier. The result included mark-to-market revaluation gains on derivatives of GBP1.2 billion, as a result of recent market volatility, it said.

Adjusted operating profit rose 15% to GBP376.8 million, as unfavorable weather conditions for renewables were more than offset by higher profits in regulated networks and a strong performance from noncore businesses, the company said.

"The group has enjoyed a strong start to the second half of the year, with renewables volumes above plan in October, and thermal and hydro plant in particular achieving strong prices in the market," it said.

For the year ending March 31, 2022, SSE forecast that its adjusted earnings per share will be at least in line with the market consensus of 83 pence. Full-year capital expenditure is expected to be above GBP2 billion, it said.

The FTSE 100 company said it intends to declare an interim dividend of 25.5 pence a share, up from 24.4 pence a year earlier.

Write to Jaime Llinares Taboada at [e-mail]; @JaimeLlinaresT

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

November 17, 2021 02:40 ET (07:40 GMT)

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