Energy market 'challenging' despite SSE profit rise

SSE's focus is always on full-year results, because the potential for volatility is always much greater in a half-year period, but it is obviously encouraging that adjusted profit before tax in the first six months has been restored to a level around that achieved in 2010. This does not hide the fact, however, that energy market conditions remain challenging.

The prices achieved for generating electricity have been weak, and higher gas and non-energy costs unfortunately had to be reflected in the increase in household energy prices which SSE implemented last month. The energy supply business accounted for 8.1% of SSE's adjusted operating profit in the period and its profit margin was 1.5%.