ESB has reported a sharp fall in pre-tax profits for the first half of 2011, mainly because of higher finance costs after its acquisition of the Northern Ireland Electricity business in late 2010.
Unaudited figures filed with the Irish Stock Exchange show that pre-tax profits in the six months were €87.7m, down from €112.6m in the same period a year earlier. Revenue rose slightly to €1.38 billion, and operating profits also rose sharply to €211.8m, helped by a number of once-off gains.
The figures show falls of more than 10% in revenue from its ESB Electric Ireland supply business, where revenue was €802m, and ESB Networks, where revenue dropped to €438.4m. ESB International was up slightly at €729.9m, while there was a boost from NIE, which contributed €111.7m.
ESB Electric Ireland more than halved its pre-tax losses, however, to €13.1m, while ESB Networks' profit fell to €120.6m from €138.8m a year earlier.
The figures also show a pension deficit of €895.4m at the end of June, down slightly from €896.7m at the end of 2010.
