PARIS (Reuters) -French energy company Engie raised its annual revenue targets on Tuesday after reporting an improvement in its earnings for the first nine months of 2023, mainly due to its energy management activities.
The company said it was now targeting a net recurring income group share of 5.1 billion euros to 5.7 billion ($5.46-$6.10 billion), compared with the 4.7 billion to 5.3 billion euros previously announced.
The company said earnings before interest and tax (EBIT), excluding nuclear, were now forecast at between 9 billion and 10 billion euros, up from 8.5 to 9.5 billion euros previously expected.
Engie also recorded nine-month EBIT excluding nuclear of 8 billion euros, up 27.4%, a profit before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) of 11.9 billion euros, up 12%, and a turnover of 62 billion euros, down 10.9%.
Its global energy management and sales unit, which includes procurement, risk management and asset optimisation activities saw its EBIT jump 67% to 3.3 billion euros.
While the war in Ukraine led to surging energy prices in 2022, the unit's contribution in the third quarter fell significantly due to a drop in volumes and margins since the summer, the group said.
"As anticipated, the reduction in our margins linked to the gradual normalisation of the markets is visible in the third quarter," Engie's chief financial officer Pierre-François Riolacci said during a conference call.
The company also said that it had 7.6 gigawatts (GW) of renewable capacity under construction at the end of September and confirmed its objective to increase installed capacity by 4 GW on average per year until 2025.
($1 = 0.9342 euros)