(Il Sole 24 Ore Radiocor) - Milano, 28 mag - The UK energy company SSE said that in the full year ended March 31 its adjusted earnings per share fell 5% to 153.5 pence, towards the upper end of guidance and reflecting continued strong operational performance during a period of macro-economic uncertainty.

Adjusted operating profit fell 8% to 2.237 billion pounds, driven by an increase in the Renewables business to 1.076 billion pounds from 1.039 billion the previous year, reflecting increased output from new capacity partially offset by mixed weather conditions and lower hedged prices.

Networks operating profit fell to 897.9 million pounds from 1.059 billion despite a 75% increase at SSEN Transmission reflecting the strong growth in investment across the transmission network. This was offset a drop at SSEN Distribution, as expected given the previous year included a large non-recurring inflation adjustment to revenues.

Flexibility operating profit fell to 375.5 million pounds from 433.5 million as SSE Thermal saw modestly lower profits than prior year which reflected market conditions and outage programmes across the fleet. Energy Customer Solutions profits decreased, reflecting both lower wind related revenues combined with lower volumes sold.

Reported operating profit of 1.889 billion pounds, down 4%, reflects a net 157.7 million pounds re-measurement charge, 84.7 million pounds in group restructuring costs and 77.9 million pound in net asset impairments.

The group confirmed its EPS targets of between 168-193 pence for 2026/27, adjusted for equity issuance, and between 225-250 pence for 2029/30.

Full year 2026/27 capex is expected to significantly increase to over 5 billion pounds, with net debt continuing to be comfortably within the Group's recently reaffirmed strong investment grade credit ratings. In the year that just ended, capex was 3.6 billion pounds.

SSE is recommending a final dividend of 47.3 pence, resulting in a full year dividend of 68.7 pence, up 7% on the prior.

year.

(RADIOCOR) 28-05-26 08:43:56 (0139) 5 NNNN