SSE reports higher than expected earnings amid £2.5bn investment drive
London-listed energy giant SSE reported higher than expected half-year earnings this morning, as it announced plans to up its investment drive into renewable energy projects.
Adjusted earnings per share sat at 37p, an 11 per cent year-on-year decrease but above a previous forecast of 30p, while the company reiterated its full-year guidance of more than 150p.
Pre-tax profits for the six months to September came in at £565.2m, a marginal one per cent increase on the prior year. Adjusted operating profits slipped 3 per cent to £693.2m.
Alistair Phillips-Davies, Chief Executive of SSE, said: “With an enduring broad political consensus behind the need to build the electricity infrastructure required for net zero, a supportive power price outlook, balance sheet strength underpinned by world-class assets and unrivalled optionality across the clean energy value chain, we have increased confidence in our earnings forecasts not only for this year but out to 2026/27.”
The British power generator also announced a fresh cash injection into its key five-year clean energy investment programme, with it now expecting £20.5bn of investment to 2027 compared with £18bn previously.
Alongside a wider £40bn pledge to invest in net zero projects over the next decade, analysts have described SSE’s five-year programme, which invests in secure, low-carbon electricity infrastructure throughout the UK and internationally, as key to creating shareholder value.
SSE’s renewable segment has also been in focus after the company warned that generation across its renewable assets was “flagging” earlier this year, but the division performed well over the six-month period.
The company’s performance has been bullish this year. In May, profits soared to over £2.5bn as it announced it was recruiting for more than 1,000 green jobs by the end of the year.
SSE today reiterated its commitment to increase its annual dividend by between five to 10 per cent in 2026/27.