LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's second biggest energy supplier SSE (L:SSE) reported a 13 percent fall in adjusted profit to 475.8 million pounds in the first half of this year, due to the weather, falling customer numbers and infrastructure upgrades.
In its interim results for the six-month period ending Sept. 30, SSE said it would pay an interim dividend of 27.4 pence per share, up 1.9 percent from a year ago, and expects to return to growth this financial year.
The company also said it would invest 1.85 billion pounds in Britain and Ireland in 2016/17 to develop secure and low-carbon energy infrastructure, taking total spending to 2020 to 6 billion pounds.
Profit at its wholesale energy unit, which includes electricity generation, fell by 24.1 percent to 121 million pounds as the weather affected renewables output and due to challenges in gas production and storage, SSE said in a statement.
Profit at its retail unit fell by 40 percent to 60.5 million pounds due to a fall in customer numbers and non-energy costs for electricity customers.
In JulY, SSE it said it had lost another 50,000 power and gas customers in the three months ending June 30.
SSE also confirmed plans to use the proceeds from the sale of part of its stake in gas distribution company SGN to return value to shareholders, with an on-market share buy-back of around 500 million pounds, with around 100 million pounds to support investment in a new onshore windfarm at Stronelairg, near Fort Augustus in Scotland.