SSEZY SSE PLC (PK)

By Rory Gallivan

LONDON--Gas and electricity supplier SSE PLC (SSE.LN) Thursday reported a solid performance so far in the year ending March 31 and said it expects to increase its dividend for the year by 3% on the previous year on adjusted earnings per share expected to rise by between 2% and 4%.

"Despite what is clearly a difficult business environment, the overall performance of the company has been solid in 2013/14 and the efforts of employees, shown recently in the response to the Christmas week storms, have been excellent," Chief Executive Officer Alistair Phillips-Davies said.

"It is encouraging that SSE is on course to deliver real growth in the dividend and increases in adjusted earnings per share and adjusted profit before tax," he added.

-Shares closed Wednesday at 1,317 pence valuing the company at GBP12.73 billion ($21 billion).

-Write to Rory Gallivan at rory.gallivan@wsj.com; Twitter: @RoryGallivan