Few sectors are forced to contend with the scale of external challenges faced by the UK electricity providers, as the latest half-year figures from SSE demonstrate. Revenues slipped during the period, while interim operating profits contracted by 10 per cent to just under £431m. The main drag on the energy supplier's financial performance was a fall-away in domestic power demand, as temperatures in five of the six months under review were higher than the long-term average.
The group’s energy supply arm reported a loss of £16.9m. That was an improvement on the corresponding loss of £115m in 2013, but the result was still slightly disappointing, given that the business had both raised its prices and benefited from lower wholesale prices. SSE also revealed it had lost another 100,000 customer accounts since June, leaving its total retail energy customer base at 8.89m, against 9.41m in September 2013.
Lord Smith of Kelvin, SSE's chairman, said adjusted earnings per share in 2014-15 would be towards the lower end of the range set out in March. Prior to this, JPMorgan Cazenove anticipated 2015 EPS of 103p.
| SSE (SSE) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ORD PRICE: | 1,544p | MARKET VALUE: | £15.2bn | |
| TOUCH: | 1,544-1,545p | 12-MONTH HIGH: | 1,601p | LOW: 1,297p |
| DIVIDEND YIELD: | 5.5% | PE RATIO: | 75 | |
| NET ASSET VALUE: | 272p* | NET DEBT: | 125% | |
| Half-year to 30 Sept | Turnover (£bn) | Pre-tax profit (£m) | Earnings per share (p) | Dividend per share (p) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2013 | 13.9 | 337 | 39 | 26.0 |
| 2014 | 12.4 | 317 | 26 | 26.6 |
| % change | -11 | -6 | -33 | +2 |
Ex-div: 22 Jan Payment: 20 Mar *Includes intangible assets of £1.2bn, or 122p a share. | ||||
