SSE plc
NOTIFICATION OF CLOSE PERIOD
SSE plc will enter its close period on 1 October 2013, prior to the publication on Wednesday 13 November 2013 of its financial results for the six months to 30 September 2013.
Since the publication of its Interim Management Statement (IMS) on 25 July 2013, SSE has: hosted the official opening by the UK Energy Minister of the 504MW Greater Gabbard offshore wind farm, in which it has a 50% stake; announced it will end automatic energy contract rollover for small business customers in April 2014; announced it will extend its existing micro-business back-billing commitment to cover all of its small business contracts from April 2014; ended the practice of unsolicited telephone calls to potential customers; announced that 30,032 shareholders elected to receive the final dividend for the year ending 31 March 2013 in respect of 30,184,755 ordinary shares in the form of Scrip dividend reducing the cash dividend outflow by £17.8m; and, to help the less well off, proposed that environmental and social costs currently met by energy bill payers should, instead, be met by taxpayers.
In addition, Standard & Poor's Rating Services have confirmed SSE's FFO/Debt ratio for the year ended March 2013 as 20.8% (this compares with 19.5% in 2011/12). This is above their 20% criterion and their long term rating for SSE remains at 'A-' with a negative outlook. Moody's corporate credit rating of SSE remains A3 with a stable outlook.
SSE remains on course to achieve its principal financial objective for 2013/14 - an increase of more than RPI inflation in the dividend payable to shareholders.
In terms of adjusted profit before tax*, SSE focuses on full year results, as opposed to six months, and its expectation at the start of each financial year is that it will not provide an outlook for full-year adjusted profit before tax* before the publication of its third quarter Interim Management Statement and that remains the case for 2013/14.
Half-year performance at plc level and within reportable segments, especially in Retail and Wholesale, is more likely to fluctuate, with unusual variations or circumstances. In line with that, adjusted profit before tax* achieved by SSE in the first six months of this financial year is likely to account for a lower proportion of that achieved in 2013/14 as a whole than was the case for 2012/13, although this should have no implications for the full financial year.
SSE's adjusted profit before tax* for the six months to 30 September 2013 is expected to be lower than it was in the same six months in 2012. It expects to report that its Retail segment has been loss-making during the period, reflecting higher wholesale gas costs and the heightened impact of fixed distribution and other costs, which themselves were rising, during the spring and summer period of lower energy consumption. The Wholesale and Networks segments are, however, expected to have been profitable during the six months.
Gregor Alexander, Finance Director of SSE, said:
"Despite challenging energy market conditions, SSE has made solid progress in recent months, including taking a number of specific steps to help small business customers and improve standards for household customers. We continue to benefit from maintaining a balanced range of energy businesses, illustrated by again meeting the criteria for a single A credit rating. Despite the intensifying political debate, we will maintain our operational and financial discipline, to enable us to deliver an above-inflation increase in the dividend for this financial year and beyond."
* Adjusted profit before tax describes profit before tax before exceptional items, re-measurements arising from IAS 39 and after the removal of taxation on profits from jointly-controlled entities and associates. Following the adoption of IAS 19R, adjusted profit before tax is stated excluding interest costs on net pension scheme liabilities.
