By Frank Prenesti
Date: Thursday 16 Jul 2020
LONDON (ShareCast) - (Sharecast News) - Energy company SSE said it still intended to declare a dividend in November as the impact of Covid-19 on the business remained in line with expectations during the first three months of the fiscal year.
The company on Thursday said it would proceed with plans to invest £7.5bn in low-carbon projects over the next five years.
It maintained guidance for a £150m - £250m hit to operating profits and a 24.4p a share payout.
"SSE's dividend provides income for people's pensions and savings and is particularly vital given the economic consequences of the coronavirus pandemic," the company said on Thursday.
The company added that it continued to target delivery of its five-year dividend plan to 2022/23, including an 80p + RPI full-year payout for 2020/21.
"Whilst the wider economic implication of the coronavirus continues to impact on the business, we've been... progressing our 7.5 billion pound capex plan of low-carbon investments, primarily in renewables and electricity networks," the company said in a trading update.
SSE switched to renewable power generation and networks after selling its energy supply and services unit to OVO Energy at the start of 2020 in a £500m deal.
It reported a 15% fall in planned electricity output of 364GWh from renewable sources in the quarter to June 30 due to weather conditions.
Total renewables output for the period was 1,988 GWh, compared to 1,879 GWh in the same period in 2019, but behind the planned total renewables output during the period this year of 2,352 GWh.