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SSE PLC on Thursday reaffirmed its annual earnings per share guidance, but bemoaned the impact of dry weather after experiencing a shortfall over the first quarter. For the first quarter, the Perth, Scotland-based electricity network company said that its renewables performance was lower than planned. This equated to a 5% shortfall in planned renewables output for the year ending March 31. However, SSE noted that the most important months in its financial year are yet to come. More importantly, it said the first few weeks of the second quarter have seen a return to more normal weather. As a result, the firm continues to expect to report full-year adjusted earnings per share of more than 150 pence, unchanged from previous guidance. This is dependent on the basis of a return to more normalised weather, and plant performance and market conditions continuing in line with expectations. In other news, SSE also said that it has made good progress in delivering its £18 billion Net Zero Acceleration Programme Plus investment plans, reaching key milestones on several projects across the UK. For example, construction at Viking onshore wind farm remains on track, with more than half of the Vestas turbines now installed, while first power from Dogger Bank A offshore wind farm is expected in the coming weeks, following the connection of the first of the GE Renewables Haliade-X turbines. ‘We are making good progress on the critical national infrastructure projects that underpin our growth plans out to 2027, and we continue to develop options that could see us invest up to £40 billion over the next decade,’ said Finance Director Gregor Alexander. ‘We are seizing the long-term opportunities presented by net zero while in the near term, subject to normal weather and plant availability, our outlook for the full year remains unchanged.’ SSE shares were trading 0.3% higher at 1,804.00 pence each in London on Thursday morning. Copyright 2023 Alliance News Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
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