By Ali Lyon
Annual operating profit at the energy firm dropped four per cent from £2.53bn to £2.43bn in the year ended 31 March.
Meanwhile, adjusted earnings per share came in at 158.5p, a five per cent fall, although the figure was still towards the top end of guidance provided in its pre-close statement.
It intends to recommend a final dividend of 40p, that will be issued to shareholders on 19 September, making the full year dividend 60p per share, 36p lower than in 2023.
Alistair Philips-Davies, chief executive at SSE, said: “This is a strong performance where we have delivered essential energy infrastructure, benefited from the resilience of our business model and made disciplined investment in our excellent growth opportunities.
“SSE is ideally placed to benefit from [the drive to renewables], creating value for shareholders and society.”
Operational highlights for the firm, which has a large wind power division, over the course of the year included delivering its first power at Dogger Bank, the largest offshore wind farm in the UK, and the confirmation of Eastern Green Link 2, a subsea transmission project.
SSE said it was on track to deliver on its financial and operational targets set for 2026-7, despite stormy weather at the start of the year hitting the provider’s construction of Dogger Bank.
The company reiterated its long-term targets in its results today. It said it was on track to deliver adjusted earnings per share growth of 175p to 200p by its 2027 fiscal year, a compound annual growth rate of 13 per cent to 16 per cent.
This would include the continued focus on delivery of the fully-funded £20.5bn Net Zero Acceleration Programme Plus. Spending would be split 55 per cent on electricity networks with “regulated, index-linked revenues”, 35 per cent on renewables with an “increasing proportion under long-term index-linked contracts”, and 10 per cent on “flexible power which is benefiting from increasing capacity market income.”
The company added that it hoped this would help it drive through dividend growth of between five per cent and 10 per cent per annum over the period.
