International utility Iberdrola has upgraded its net profit expectations for 2019 after multi-billion-euro investments in renewables and networks drove the company forward.
International utility Iberdrola has upgraded its its net profit expectations for 2019 after multi-billion-euro investments in renewables and networks drove the company forward.
This morning the power giant reported a net profit of €1.64 billion for the first six months of 2019, up nearly 17% on the previous year’s figure. This was on the back of a 18.3% increase in H1 earnings to almost €5 billion, which the company largely attributed to company record investments.
Iberdrola said that its performance highlighted its investment of €3 billion over H1 2019, a record for the company to have invested in a six-month period. Almost half (48%) was invested in renewables, while a further 40% was dedicated to transmission and distribution networks.
Meanwhile, the group also stated that it could exceed its target of installing 13GW of new generation capacity by 2022. The majority of its new capacity earmarked to come on stream this year – 75% of 5,250MW – is anticipated to do so in H2.
Ignacio Galán, group chairman at Iberdrola, said that the double-digit growth was attributable to the success of its commitment to clean energy and regulated assets with predictable returns.
In addition, Galán confirmed that the company was now revising its full-year net profit guidance to reflect double-digit growth, bolstered by the group’s performance to date and a series of cost saving divestments and efficiency measures.
Iberdrola had previous guided towards high single-digit growth for the year.
In the UK – Iberdrola owns ScottishPower and has already confirmed a series of renewables investments in the country – the company has reported a £500 million hike in regulated asset value to £6.5 billion despite a 20% slide in renewable production from the country, which coincided with a 3.5% fall in power demand.
There was also a marked decline in the amount of power Iberdrola generated from coal assets, which fell 40.4% to just 349GWh in the first half of the year.
By comparison, Iberdrola’s total renewables net production in H1 2019 amounted to 31.3TWh, with significant increases in both its offshore and ‘solar and other’ segments.
Its solar performance was particularly buoyant, soaring almost 200% year-on-year to 580GWh on the back of an additional 270MW of solar coming on-stream in Mexico.