London-listed energy giant SSE delivered a substantial increase in pretax profit as boss Alistair Phillips-Davies, said he would stand down next year after more than 11 years at the helm.
In the six months to September, SSE’s adjusted pretax profit rose 26 per cent, climbing to £714.5m up from £565.2m in the same period last year.
SEE said its business mix had “provided resilience”, with a “return to favourable weather conditions” helping to offset lower thermal revenue.
It noted that average wind speeds in Scotland were around 14 per cent higher than the comparative period, helping to drive a roughly 45 per cent increase in output.
On the back of its results the SSE announced an interim dividend of 21.2p per share, six per cent higher than last year. It remains on track to deliver its 2026/27 target of an adjusted earnings per share between 175-200p.
“This is a strong set of interim results including delivery of higher-quality earnings and the mission-critical infrastructure that shows SSE is at the heart of the clean energy transition,” Phillips-Davies said.
He said that the firm, which specialises in electricity transmission and generation, was well aligned with the new UK government’s mission to achieve clean power by 2030.
“SSE will be a key delivery partner with our ~£20bn investment programme and the scale and quality of our project pipeline that spans renewables, electricity networks and flexible power plants – which will all be required to make clean power a reality,” he said.
Philips-Davies also confirmed that he would be standing down during 2025, although he will remain in place until a successor is found. Sir John Manzoni, SSE’s chair, will lead the search for his successor.
“There will be a smooth and orderly transition with Alistair continuing to lead the Company until a successor is appointed and of course our net zero aligned strategy remains unchanged,” he said.