SSE Airtricity profits hold despite UK parent taking huge Covid earnings hit

The Irish operations generated a reported operating profit of £20.4m, up from £16.4m for the first six months of the preceding financial year.

Irish energy utility SSE Airtricity saw its profits inch higher through the first wave of Covid restrictions, even though its British parent took a massive hit to earnings due to the pandemic.

British utility SSE said it took a £115m (€128m) profit hit in the first half of its financial year — the six months to the end of September — as the UK’s Covid restrictions lowered energy demand in that country.

The group already forecast, earlier in the year, a £150m-£200m profit hit for its current financial year due to lowering demand in Britain.

However, the year to date has been kinder to the group in Ireland, where it trades as SSE Airtricity. 

The Irish operations generated a reported operating profit of £20.4m, up from £16.4m for the first six months of the preceding financial year.

On an adjusted basis, the profit was £16.6m, but SSE released a £3.8m excess bad debt provision originally expected to arise from the Covid impact.

As of the end of September, SSE Airtricity had a 22.4% share of the all-Ireland electricity market. The group’s latest interim results show the business to have 700,000 customers on the island of Ireland; down from 720,000 at the same time last year.

The Irish business generated revenues of £464m in the first half, an 8% year-on-year drop.