Scottish & Southern expects 'moderate profit' increase

3rd Feb 2010 07:07

Power supplier Scottish & Southern Energy is on course for a 'moderate increase' in underlying profits this year, while the dividend for the year will be at least 70p, a 6% hike.Over the nine months to December the number of electricity and gas supply customer accounts in the Great Britain market increased by 200,000 to 9.2m. Including customers in the all-island market in Ireland and home services, SSE's total customer base is now 9.75m. "SSE has performed well in the second half of the financial year, with sound performance in our day-to-day operations and solid progress in our major investment projects," Ian Marchant, chief executive, said."As a result, we remain on course to deliver a moderate increase in adjusted profit before tax and a dividend of at least 70p per share for the full year. Our priorities now are to round off this financial year successfully and make a good start to 2010/11," he added.SSE made an adjusted profit of £1.25bn in the year to March 2009.