SSE Swung to 1st Half Pretax Loss; Plans to Consolidate Renewable Assets in U.K., Ireland

By Oliver Griffin

SSE PLC (SSE.LN) said Wednesday that it swung to a pretax loss in the first half of fiscal 2019, and that it plans to consolidate its renewable-energy assets in the U.K. and Ireland as SSE Renewables.

The energy company said the creation of SSE Renewables is a step toward being a leading energy business in a low carbon world. The new entity will have its own management team while group operational assets are currently expected to total over four gigawatts at March 31 2019.

For the six months ended Sept. 30, SSE recorded a loss of 265.3 million pounds ($340.6 million), compared with a pretax profit of GBP409.3 million in the year-earlier period.

Revenue fell 69% to GBP3.33 billion during the first half of the year, SSE said. The company also recorded a net loss of GBP291 million, compared with a net profit of GBP299.8 million in the year-earlier period.

At its interim results in fiscal 2018, SSE announced that it had agreed to merge SSE Energy Services, its household and services energy business, with Innogy SE's (IGY.XE) U.K. retail division, Npower.

However, last week the company said completion of the merger is likely to be delayed beyond the first quarter of 2019 as it assesses potential changes to the commercial terms of the deal, citing recent market developments.

Accounting for the demerger of its SSE Energy Business, the company reported a 41% fall in adjusted pretax profit to GBP246.4 million, from GBP416.7 million in the previous year.

SSE declared an interim dividend of 29.3 pence a share, up 3.2% from 28.4 pence in the same period a year ago. The company said it continues with its intention to recommend a full-year dividend of 97.5 pence a share and to deliver its earlier announced five-year dividend plan.

Write to Oliver Griffin at oliver.griffin@dowjones.com; @OliGGriffin

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

November 14, 2018 02:43 ET (07:43 GMT)

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