31st Jan 2008 07:01
Scottish & Southern Energy PLC31 January 2008 SCOTTISH AND SOUTHERN ENERGY PLC INTERIM MANAGEMENT STATEMENT Scottish and Southern Energy plc ("SSE") is on course to deliver a goodfinancial and operational performance for 2007/08, with further growth in energycustomer numbers, another reduction in customer complaints and continuingprogress in its investment programme. Operational update In the nine months to 31 December 2007: • the number of electricity, gas and telecoms customers increased by 650,000 to 8.4 million, making SSE the UK's second largest supplier of electricity and gas; • the number of customer complaints sent to energywatch for resolution was 495, a fall of 22% compared with the same nine months in 2006; • gas-fired power stations achieved 94.6% of their maximum availability to generate electricity, excluding planned outages; coal-fired stations achieved 89.3%; • the output from hydro electric schemes (excluding Foyers) and wind farms was 2,356GWh, a reduction of 10.5% compared with the same nine months in 2006; • the number of units of electricity distributed was 30.9GWh, an increase of 0.6% compared with the same nine months in 2006; • the average number of Customer Minutes Lost in Scottish Hydro Electric Power Distribution was 47, a decrease of eight minutes compared with the same nine months in 2006; in Southern Electric Power Distribution it was 49, a decrease of six minutes; • the amount of gas transported by Scotia Gas Networks, in which SSE has a 50% stake, was 105,281GWh, an increase of 2.9% compared with the same nine months in 2006; and • the major investment projects have continued to make progress. The electricity generation developments at Drumderg, Fiddler's Ferry, Ferrybridge, Glendoe and Marchwood are all on course to be delivered on schedule. In line with the interim results statement on 14 November, gas injection into the first three caverns at the Aldbrough gas storage development is scheduled to commence in the Spring of 2008 and the commissioning process to support this is now well under way. These first three caverns are expected to be fully dewatered and available for full commercial service in the autumn. Key developments Since the publication of its interim results, SSE has: secured consent todevelop a 40MW wind farm at Achany, near Lairg in Sutherland, and a 40MW windfarm at Fairburn, near Dingwall in Ross-shire; supported the decision by ScotiaGas Networks to accept Ofgem's final proposals for the gas distribution pricecontrol for 2008-13; completed the acquisition of Slough Heat and Power Ltd for£49.25m; and entered into the agreement to acquire Airtricity Holdings Limitedfor an enterprise value of €1,455m. That acquisition is on course to becompleted by the end of February 2008. In addition, Ministers have given consent to Barking Power Ltd, in which SSE hasa 30.4% stake, to construct a 400MW extension to its existing 1,000MW CombinedCycle Gas Turbine power station at Dagenham. On 18 January, SSE confirmed that it would keep its electricity and gas pricesfor domestic customers at their current levels for the rest of this winter anduntil at least the start of British Summer Time. Its fair pricing policy meansthat it seeks to be the last, or one of the last, of the energy suppliers toraise prices if it has to and the first, or one of the first, to lower prices ifit can. This fair pricing policy has supported ongoing growth in SSE's totalcustomer numbers, which reached 8.5 million earlier this month. Financial outlook SSE remains on course to deliver sustained real dividend growth in the yearsahead and, specifically, to deliver at least 4% annual real growth in respect of2007/08, 2008/09 and 2009/10. More immediately, it is on course to deliverfinancial results for 2007/08 as a whole which are in line with the currentconsensus of brokers' forecasts. Net debt before the impact of the Airtricitytransaction is forecast to be lower than expected due to strong cash flowgenerated from operations. SSE will publish its preliminary results for the yearto 31 March 2008 on 29 May 2008. In advance of that, SSE will provide an updateon its plans and activities in sustainable energy on 26 March. Ian Marchant, Chief Executive of SSE, said: "At the start of this financial year, we said that SSE's asset base wasexpanding significantly through investment, and that the value created by thiswould be complemented by value enhancement from operational excellence. We alsosaid that we would seek to create value for shareholders through acquisitions,if they were compatible with our financial principles. "We have made major progress in our operational and investment activity and theforthcoming acquisition of Airtricity will also help to maintain our trackrecord of dividend growth in the next decade. Through operations, investment andacquisitions in this financial year, the foundations for sustainable, long-termprogress and growth have been laid." This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock ExchangeRelated Shares:
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