24th Sep 2015 08:46
LONDON (Alliance News) - Renewable electricity supplier and generator Good Energy Group PLC posted higher pretax profit and revenue for the first half as it saw its electricity and gas customer numbers rise, but it warned that costs in the second half will remain high as it continues to invest in expanding capacity.
The company said its pretax profit for the half year to the end of June was GBP500,000, up from GBP300,000 a year earlier, as revenue rose to GBP32.6 million from GBP22.2 million. The rise in profit was mitigated by higher financing costs for the group in the year, with earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation rising to GBP3.6 million from GBP1.4 million.
The company will pay a flat interim dividend of 1.0 pence per share.
Good Energy said its electricity customers rose 20% in the first half to around 55,000, up from 46,000, while its gas customers rose 40% to 28,000 from 20,000. The group said its feed-in tariff administration numbers also increased, up 42% to 93,500.
The group completed work on four solar farms in the first half, with two more set to come on line in the final quarter of the year. Its combined wind and solar power at the close of the half was 47.5 megawatts, more than double the 22.5 megawatts it had on its books a year earlier.
"We're delighted to report good customer growth as more consumers turn to us for renewable electricity. To meet this increasing demand, we continue to invest in our generation capacity and have brought four new solar farms on stream in the first half, delivering 23MW," said Juliet Davenport, chief executive of Good Energy.
Davenport said that the group's outlook for supply and generation is in line, but said the costs of its development business are unlikely to be offset by a site sale and said the costs of developments are likely to remain flat in the second half. She said the group is planning to make additional investments in the second half to continue building capacity.
Shares in Good Energy were down 3.5% to 229.69 pence on Thursday.
By Sam Unsted; [email protected]; @SamUAtAlliance
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