SSE plc
NOTIFICATION OF CLOSE PERIOD
SSE plc will enter its close period from 1 April 2013, prior to the publication on Wednesday 22 May of its financial results for the year to 31 March 2013.
Developments since publication of IMS
Since the publication of its Interim Management Statement (IMS) on 31 January 2013, SSE has:
· launched a Customer Service Guarantee under which it promises to meet a new set of energy supply customer service commitments or give customers £20 off their next bill;
· announced that a total of 30,180 shareholders elected to receive the interim dividend for the year ended 31 March 2013 of 25.2 pence per ordinary share in respect of 327,303,253 ordinary shares in the form of Scrip dividend, resulting in a reduction in interim dividend cash funding of £82.5 million;
· set out updated plans for the operation of, and investment in, capacity for generating electricity at its thermal power stations that will result, amongst other things, in 2,000MW of existing capacity ceasing operation during 2013/14; and
· completed the sale of four wind farms with a total generation capacity of 79.5MW to a new fund managed by Greencoat Capital for a total cash consideration of £140m, and taken a £10m stake in the new fund.
In the last few days, over 500 engineers and other employees have been deployed to help restore electricity supplies to households, businesses and other premises on Arran and Kintyre following the exceptional damage to the network resulting from the severe weather conditions that occurred on 22 March.
In addition, the agreement by SSE's wholly-owned subsidiary, SSE E&P UK Limited, to acquire from BP its 50% working interest in the Sean gas field in the Southern North Sea is on course to be completed early in the new financial year.
Financial outlook
As stated in its IMS, SSE expects that it will deliver for 2012/13:
· an increase of at least 2% more than RPI inflation in the full-year dividend to around 84 pence per share; and
· an increase of around 4% to 5% (nominal) in adjusted profit before tax.
SSE still expects to report that all three of its segments - Networks, Retail and Wholesale - have been profitable during 2012/13. Within the Retail segment, SSE expects that its profit margin (ie adjusted operating profit as a percentage of revenue) in Energy Supply will be close to the average it expects to achieve over the medium term, of around 5%.
As stated in its Annual Report 2012 and in other disclosures, most recently its Interim Management Statement in January 2013, SSE's target for 2013/14 onwards is to deliver annual dividend increases which are greater than RPI inflation, while maintaining dividend cover over the medium term within a range around 1.5 times.
Gregor Alexander, Finance Director of SSE plc, said:
"Despite the continuing challenges in the energy sector and the wider economy in Britain and Ireland, SSE is on course to deliver solid financial results in May. The priority now is to make a good start to the new financial year so that SSE fulfils its well-established target for 2013/14 of an above RPI inflation dividend increase. This means focusing on the core operations of the company and, most importantly of all, maintaining sector-leading service for the benefit of customers. In line with that, completing the job of safely restoring electricity supplies on Arran and Kintyre is the immediate priority."
