SSE Reaffirms Fiscal Year 2020 Dividend Guidance, Sees No Material Hit From Coronavirus

By Jaime Llinares Taboada

SSE PLC on Friday reaffirmed its dividend guidance for fiscal 2020 and said that it expects adjusted earnings at the lower end of its previous guided range despite having avoided a material impact from the coronavirus pandemic so far.

The FTSE 100 energy company said it expects adjusted earnings per share--one of the company's preferred metrics which excludes disposed and for-sale assets--at the bottom tier of the 83-88 pence (99.5-105.5 cents) range for the year ending March 31. This would be up from 67.1 pence in fiscal 2019.

The group said the pandemic hasn't yet had a material impact on its performance and therefore it still intends to recommend a full-year dividend of 80 pence pence per share, down from 97.5 pence a year earlier. However, SSE could reconsider the "timing of dividend payments" if the coronavirus were to hurt its business, it said.

The company also estimated capital and investment expenditure will be slightly above forecasts, at GBP1.5 billion, whereas net debt and hybrid capita is seen reaching around GBP10.7 billion at the end of the fiscal year, reflecting project development and foreign exchange rates.

In addition, SSE expects that adjusted operating profit for its renewable generation business will rise around 25% in fiscal 2020 due to the contribution of the Beatrice offshore wind farm, while SSEN Transmission, SSEN Distribution and investment in SGN will be down at a high single-digit percentage.

Write to Jaime Llinares Taboada at jaime.llinares@wsj.com; @JaimeLlinaresT

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

March 27, 2020 03:49 ET (07:49 GMT)

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