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British Energy Output Cheery Despite Shutdowns
Apr 10 - Evening Standard British Energy gave investors a much-needed boost today with news that it generated more power than expected last year despite a difficult 12 months. Britain's biggest energy producer, which emerged from near-bankruptcy two years ago with the help of taxpayers' money, said total output for the year to the end of March was "marginally" ahead of expectations in the City at 58.4 terawatt hours (TWh). The company, operator of eight nuclear power stations and one coal-fired plant, also revealed it has secured contracts for 54 TWh for the new financial year at a price of about £43 per megawatt hour (MWh). The better-than-expected performance came despite months of problems at British Energy, which was forced to close several reactors for urgent repairs, sending its share price plummeting as investors feared the reduced output would slash revenues and profits at the company. The company lost up to 25 percent of its nuclear production from unplanned safety and maintenance outages but today it said it has now completed boiler repair work at Hunterston in Scotland and Hinkley Point in Somerset. A programme to return the units to service -- at 70 percent of full capacity -- will start this month. "Following the return to service of the units, the company will focus on the potential to return output to previous levels from both stations," said British Energy. Its shares dived from above 750p midway through last year to as low as 390p in recent weeks. But Collins Stewart analyst Lakis Athanasiou described today's update as "moderately positive" and British Energy shares rose 18 1/2p to 506 1/2p, valuing the group at £2.92 billion. The company, which injected £40 million into its pension fund in 2006, has also started legal proceedings against Credit Suisse in a row over a deal struck five years ago to acquire its Eggborough coal-fired power station. British Energy granted banks that bought bonds in Eggborough the option to acquire it outright in 2010 but now claims Credit Suisse has breached the terms of the agreement. ----- To see more of the Evening Standard, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.thisislondon.co.uk . Copyright (c) 2007, Evening Standard, London Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Business News |