SSE Business Update
SSE plc will enter its close period on 31 March 2014, prior to the publication on Wednesday 21 May of its financial report for the year to 31 March 2014. This statement:
· details developments since SSE published its Interim Management Statement (IMS)
on 23 January;
· summarises SSE's expected financial results for the year to 31 March 2014, which
are forecast to be in line with the financial outlook in the IMS;
· as part of a value programme, announces a programme of planned asset and
business disposals that will secure proceeds and debt reduction estimated to total
around £1bn and simplify significantly the SSE group;
· also as part of a value programme, announces the identification of further operational efficiencies that will result in annual savings in overheads of around £100m by March 2016 but which will result in a reduction, compared with previous plans, of around 500 in the number of people employed by SSE in Great Britain;
· announces that there will be legal separation of the businesses within SSE's Retail
and Wholesale segments, planned to be completed by March 2015;
· announces that SSE will freeze at current levels its household energy prices in GB
until at least January 2016;
· sets out the conclusions of SSE's review of its offshore wind development portfolio, which will result in SSE narrowing significantly the focus of its near-term development plans to no more than 375MW of capacity in the Beatrice project;
· forecasts capital and investment expenditure by SSE of around £1.6bn in 2014/15 and then an average of up to £1.3bn (net of disposals) across the three years to March 2018;
· states that SSE expects adjusted earnings per share1 for 2014/15 to be around or
slightly greater than in 2013/14 but to be subject to greater risks in the following two
years; and
· states that SSE is targeting an increase in the full-year dividend for 2014/15 of at least RPI inflation2, with annual increases thereafter of at least RPI inflation2 also being targeted.
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