EDF swings to profit on back of high electricity prices but notes £11bn Hinkley hit

French nuclear power giant EDF swung to profit in 2023, despite booking a large impairment on the struggling Hinkley Point C project.

The group’s net income totalled €10bn (£8.6bn), up by nearly €28bn, as it rebounded from record annual losses in 2022, off the back of historically high electricity prices.

Earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) also swung into the green, rising to €39.92bn from a loss of nearly €5bn in 2022.

Luc Rémont, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of EDF, said: “2023 marks the return of the company’s operational performance at a better level, after a year of industrial difficulties and exceptional regulation unfavourable effects in 2022.

“With these good results, EDF has met its financial targets and reduced its financial debt.”

But the Paris-headquartered company noted a €12.9bn (£11.05bn) impairment on Hinkley Point C assets, as it struggled with a series of setbacks on the project.

The plant in Somerset, which has been under construction since 2016, has been marred by delays and rising costs.

Inflation, Covid and Brexit disruption have conspired to hamper the new nuclear plant’s delivery, alongside labour and material shortages.

EDF has revised its estimate for the cost of completing the project upward, to between £31 and £34bn.

The french state-owned utility said power generation from the new Unit 1 reactor was expected to start anywhere between 2029 and 2031. Should it begin at the latter end of the forecast, the company said it would expect an additional cost of £1bn.