Tuesday 9 August 2011

Despite FTSE fall, International Power report profits

International Power announced a 9% increase in operating profits for the first half of the year despite reporting a 6% decline on the London Stock Exchange as one of the FTSE's leading fallers.

Up 9% from last year's profits at €1,471 million (2010: €1,350 million), the company, 70% owned by France's GDF Suez, were confident the second half would see similar growth as the first six months.

Dirk Beeuwsaert, Chairman of International Power, said "I am pleased to report that performance in the first half is up on last year, benefiting from a higher contribution from Latin America and North America, together with outperformance on committed synergies from the combination. The Board is pleased to announce an interim dividend of 4.40 euro cents per share.

Several projects under construction have successfully commenced operation in 2011 and we are on track to deliver over 2GW of new capacity in the full year."

International Power said that the UK White Paper has brought greater clarity to a number of initiatives to promote low carbon generation: "We are encouraged by the capacity payment mechanism proposals, and the Government's recognition of the importance of supporting a liquid wholesale trading market."