Northern Ireland power group Viridian has reported pre-tax profits of £76.8m from its continuing businesses for the six months to the end of September. This was up from £52m in the same period a year earlier. Viridian also recorded an exceptional profit of £109m from the sale of its IT division Sx3.
Revenue rose from £360m to £409m, while underlying operating profits were up 10% to £70.4m. A 4.5% interim dividend of 10.28p will be paid.
The group's power and energy division recorded a strong increase in revenue, from £119.5m to £162m, helped by volume growth in the Republic of Ireland and higher prices. But profits fell from £16m to £14.9m, due to a planned outage at its Huntstown plant in north Dublin, as well as CO2 emission costs. The company said its second power station at Huntstown was on track for completion in autumn 2007.
Viridian said price increases approved by the Commission for Energy Regulation for 2006 would enable its Energia power supply subsidiary to 'substantially' maintain its margins against a background of higher gas prices. Energia added 2,500 customers in the Republic in the six months.
Northern Ireland Electricity profits rose from £42.8m to £49.5m.
