REG - SSE Plc - Q1 Trading Statement

SSEAnnouncement

20/07/2023 07:00

For best results when printing this announcement, please click on link below:
http://newsfile.refinitiv.com/getnewsfile/v1/story?guid=urn:newsml:reuters.com:20230720:nRST5833Ga&default-theme=true

RNS Number : 5833G  SSE PLC  20 July 2023

SSE plc

q1 trading statement

20 july 2023

 

á    Reaffirming FY24 adjusted earnings per share guidance of more than
150p

á    Dry and still weather conditions in Q1 led to a shortfall over the
period equivalent to 5% of annual planned renewables output

á    Key milestones achieved on major projects, supporting delivery of the
Group's growth-focused NZAP Plus investment plan

 

This Trading Statement updates the market on SSE's financial outlook since
publication of the Group's Preliminary Full-year Results statement on 24 May
2023 and provides operational performance data ahead of today's SSE plc Annual
General Meeting.

 

TRADING UPDATE

Renewables performance in Q1 was lower than planned, reflecting dry and still
weather patterns well below the long-term average, equating to a 5% shortfall
on planned renewables output for the year.  However, the key months in SSE's
financial year are still to come and the first few weeks of Q2 have so far
seen a return to more normal weather.

SSE therefore continues to expect to report full-year 2023/24 adjusted
earnings per share of more than 150p, on the basis of a return to more
normalised weather, and plant performance and market conditions continuing in
line with expectations.

PROGRESS AGAINST STRATEGY

Good progress has been made in delivery of SSE's £18bn Net Zero Acceleration
Programme (NZAP) Plus investment plans, with the following key milestones
achieved on major projects:

á    The 114(th) and final Vestas turbine was installed at Seagreen
offshore wind farm in June, and around 90 of the turbines are now
commissioned.

á    Construction at Viking onshore wind farm remains on track, with more
than half of the Vestas turbines now installed.

á    First power from Dogger Bank A offshore wind farm is expected in the
coming weeks, following connection of the first of the GE Renewables Haliade-X
turbines.

á    A Joint Venture was signed with National Grid to deliver the Eastern
Green Link 2 (EGL2) project, a 2GW HVDC subsea transmission cable from
Peterhead to Drax.

á    The Shetland HVDC project is currently on schedule ahead of
energisation over the summer 2024, and Ofgem has provided Final Needs Case
approval for the subsea transmission link to Orkney.

Gregor Alexander, Finance Director, said:

"SSE is a long-term business with a clear strategy, and we remain focused on
delivering the ambitious NZAP Plus growth plan that we announced in May.

"We are making good progress on the critical national infrastructure projects
that underpin our growth plans out to 2027, and we continue to develop options
that could see us invest up to £40bn over the next decade.

"We are seizing the long-term opportunities presented by net zero while in the
near term, subject to normal weather and plant availability, our outlook for
the full-year remains unchanged."

operational PERFORMANCE

 

SSE Renewables

Output of electricity from renewable sources in which SSE has an ownership
interest was 624GWh - or around 29% behind plan for the period to 30 June 2023
- mainly due to adverse still and dry weather conditions. This represents a 5%
shortfall on planned output for the full year.

 

                                                        Actual output for 3 months to                        % of planned output  Planned output for 3 months to                        Actual output for 3 months to

30 June 2023
30 June 2023
30 June 2022
 Onshore wind generation output Ð GWh                   715                                                  71                   1,003                                                 1,133
 Offshore wind generation output Ð GWh                  496                                                  84                   592                                                   343
 Conventional hydro generation output Ð GWh             341                                                  59                   581                                                   593
 Total renewables output (excl. pumped storage) Ð GWh   1,552                                                71                   2,176                                                 2,069
 Pumped storage generation output Ð GWh                 73                                                   -                    -                                                     60
 Total renewables output Ð GWh                          1,625                                                -                    -                                                     2,129

Note: Output based on equity share and in the three months to 30 June 2023
includes 76GWh of onshore and 4GWh of offshore compensated constrained off
generation. The same period in 2022 includes 98GWh of onshore, and 27GWh
offshore, compensated constrained off generation.

 

SSE Thermal
Output of electricity from SSE's gas-fired generation plant for the three
months to 30 June 2023 was down on the same period last year, reflecting more
planned outages which were only partially offset by additional capacity from
Keadby 2 and the Triton Power acquisition.

                                           3 months to    3 months to

                                           30 June 2023   30 June 2022
 Gas-fired generation output (GB) Ð GWh    3,218          3,683
 Gas-fired generation output (ROI) Ð GWh   496            126
 Total gas-fired generation output Ð GWh   3,714          3,809

Notes:

1. Output is based on equity share except Marchwood where 100% of volumes are
included due to the contractual arrangement.

2. Output includes 30GWh of oil-fired generation in the three months to 30
June 2023 and 143GWh of oil-fired generation in the same period in 2022,
primarily from older Irish plant.

3. Output in Ireland in the three months to 30 June 2022 was impacted by
unavailability at Great Island CCGT.

4. Output in GB excludes 459GWh of pre-commissioning output in the prior
period from Keadby 2 CCGT which was commissioned in March 2023.

 

sse plc annual general meeting 2023

SSE's Annual General Meeting 2023 takes place today, 20 July, at 12.30pm in
Perth.

SSE will issue a further business update with its Notification of Close Period
statement on 4 October 2023.

 

 Enquiries
 Investors  SSE Investor Relations  ir@sse.com (mailto:ir@sse.com)        Sally Fairbairn, Michael Livingston  +44 (0)345 0760 530
 Media      SSE Media               media@sse.com (mailto:media@sse.com)  Sam Peacock,                         +44 (0)345 0760 530

                                                                          Glenn Barber

            MHP Group                                                     Oliver Hughes                        +44 (0)7885 224 532

                                                                          James McFarlane                      +44 (0)7584 142 665

 

This information is provided by RNS, the news service of the London Stock Exchange. RNS is approved by the Financial Conduct Authority to act as a Primary Information Provider in the United Kingdom. Terms and conditions relating to the use and distribution of this information may apply. For further information, please contact
rns@lseg.com (mailto:rns@lseg.com)
 or visit
www.rns.com (http://www.rns.com/)
.

RNS may use your IP address to confirm compliance with the terms and conditions, to analyse how you engage with the information contained in this communication, and to share such analysis on an anonymised basis with others as part of our commercial services. For further information about how RNS and the London Stock Exchange use the personal data you provide us, please see our
Privacy Policy (https://www.lseg.com/privacy-and-cookie-policy)
.   END  TSTGPUWWMUPWPUB