A windy and rainy summer in Scotland and Ireland helped the Perth-based energy company SSE plc improve its total operating profit and profit before tax for the six months to September 30 2015, with over one third of the company’s energy output coming from renewables.
SSE reported GBP 701.9 million total operating profit and GBP 548.8m profit before tax for the first two quarters of its current financial year, a 24.5% and a 48% increase respectively compared to GBP 529.8m total operating profit and GBP 370.3m profit before tax reported for the same period a year earlier.
The company’s wholesale business saw profits restored to GBP 159.6 million, similar to the level in 2013, following an exceptionally low performance during the same period last year.
The increase follows a wet and windier summer in Scotland and Ireland with higher renewable energy output, continued cost efficiencies across the group, and an increase in business customers.
The company revealed investment and capital expenditure was up 11.5% to GBP 757.3m – one and a half times its profit for the same period.
“We’ve had a solid start to the financial year but half year profits are only half the story. There are many variables in energy and so they should be treated with caution – that’s why we focus on full year results,” Alistair Phillips-Davies, Chief Executive of SSE, said.
“The last six months have seen us invest substantially in the UK’s energy infrastructure – committing one and a half times what we’ve made in profit in the first half of the year. We’ve seen a return to a more typical level of profit in our Wholesale and Retail businesses however market conditions continue to be challenging in domestic energy supply and we expect these profits to be lower at the end of the year.”