•      Delivered investment of £2.5bn in critical national energy infrastructure, including:

o  Construction starting on Eastern Green Link 2 subsea transmission cable, the largest in the UK;
o  Full power at Seagreen, the world's deepest fixed bottom offshore wind farm;
o  Progressing the world's largest wind farm, with Dogger Bank A turbine installations continuing;
o  Final commissioning under way on both Viking onshore wind farm and Shetland HVDC link.

•      Reporting adjusted earnings per share of 158.5p, towards the top end of guidance and reflecting the resilience and quality of earnings from balanced business mix despite normalisation of energy markets.

•      Enhanced visibility of accelerated growth in core regulated Transmission business creates significant depth to long-term earnings whilst complementing SSE's renewables capacity additions and demonstrating the benefit of optionality across networks, renewables and flexibility.

•      Making a major contribution to communities, adding £6bn to UK GDP, supporting over 50,000 UK jobs with a further €1bn contribution to Ireland GDP and over 3,000 Irish jobs supported.

•      Investing in safety, opening Scotland's first immersive safety training facility which will deliver innovative training to 7,000 people per year for the next three years. However, the combined Total Recordable Injury Rate for employees and contractors increased to 0.20 from 0.19 in 2023.

FINANCIAL HIGHLIGHTS: DELIVERING RESILIENT EARNINGS

•      Adjusted earnings per share of 158.5p, towards the top end of guidance provided in the pre-close statement reflecting strong operational performance across the diversified business mix.

•      Reported earnings per share of 156.7p, reflecting positive fair value movements on derivatives offset by impairments in Triton Power and Gas Storage, reversing previous valuation increases to reflect changing market conditions, and an impairment in non-core Neos Networks investment.

•      Increased profits in SSEN Transmission driven by increased investment as the business progresses with delivery of the RIIO-T2 business plan, whilst the timing of cost inflation recovery in SSEN Distribution principally led to lower profitability in that business.

•      Profitability in Renewables reflects higher hedged prices combined with lower hedge buyback costs, with higher year-on-year output reflecting Seagreen offshore wind farm reaching full power.

•      In SSE Thermal, lower market income was partially offset by additional capacity from Triton Power and Keadby 2 offering the market increased flexibility, alongside strong future capacity auction results.

•      Gas Storage earnings lower, in line with expectations, as gas prices and price volatility reduced

•      £1.1bn of long-term debt issued in the period including a €750m eight-year Green Bond at a fixed coupon of 4.0% and a further £500m 20-year Green Bond at an all-in rate of 5.575%.

•      Adjusted investment, capital and acquisition expenditure of £2.5bn.

•      Adjusted net debt and hybrid capital at £9.4bn, in line with pre-close guidance, with a net debt to EBITDA ratio of 3.0 times, well within a strong investment grade credit rating range.

FINAL DIVIDEND IN LINE WITH GROWTH-ENABLING PLAN

•      Intention to recommend a final dividend of 40.0p for payment on 19 September 2024, making the full year dividend 60p per share in line with growth aligned dividend plan.

•      Scrip uptake continues to be capped at 25% and implemented by means of a share buy-back.

PREMIUM ASSETS CREATING HIGH QUALITY EARNINGS

•      On track to deliver adjusted EPS of 175 - 200p by FY27, a CAGR of 13-16% over the five-year plan.

•      Continued focus on delivery of the fully-funded £20.5bn Net Zero Acceleration Programme Plus (NZAP Plus), converting high quality organic project pipeline into long-term sustainable earnings.

o  c.55% of capex focused on electricity networks with regulated, index-linked revenues
o  c.35% of capex on renewables with increasing proportion under long-term index-linked contracts
o  c.10% of capex on flexible power which is benefiting from increasing capacity market income

•      Capex weighting reflects strong growth opportunities across the Group's portfolio, including:

o  Gross electricity networks RAV to exceed £16bn by 2026/27, a >15% CAGR over the five-years
o  Up to 5GW net renewables capacity additions over the period, although focus remains on creating long-term value over short-term capacity volume

•      Maintaining balance sheet strength through diversified business mix with net debt / EBITDA expected to remain within or below 3.5 - 4.0x range over the course of the plan.

•      Reiterating commitment to target annual dividend increases of between 5 - 10% to 2026/27, based on an expected 60 pence full year dividend for 2023/24, with retention of the scrip option capped at 25%.

STRATEGIC HIGHLIGHTS: DELIVERING ESSENTIAL INFRASTRUCTURE

•      Eastern Green Link 2, a 2GW subsea HVDC project being delivered in partnership with National Grid, received confirmation from Ofgem of £4.4bn project assessment, with onshore works now under way in Peterhead. EGL2 will be the UK's biggest subsea transmission project.

•      Strong progress has also been made on delivery of further ASTI(1) projects, which could collectively comprise c.£17bn of gross nominal investment to unlock renewable resource in Scotland.

•      Installation of SSEN Transmission's Shetland HVDC reaching final commissioning ahead of energisation in Summer 2024.

•      SSEN Distribution has completed the first year of its RIIO-ED2 price control, delivering accelerated investment in capital projects whilst unlocking its first Uncertainty Mechanism funding.

•      Full power achieved at 1.1GW Seagreen, Scotland's largest and the world's deepest fixed bottom offshore wind farm and final commissioning reached at 440MW Viking, which is expected to be the UK's most productive onshore wind farm when it reaches full power later in 2024.

•      Delivered first power at 3.6GW Dogger Bank, which will be the world's largest offshore wind farm when complete. Whilst phase one is behind original schedule, it is expected to deliver full value in line with FID.

•      Secured 605MW of onshore wind in the UK fifth Contract for Difference auction (AR5) in addition to 101MW in Ireland's third RESS process.

(1) Accelerated Strategic Transmission Investment

Alistair Phillips-Davies, Chief Executive, said:
"This is a strong performance where we have delivered essential energy infrastructure, benefited from the resilience of our business model, and made disciplined investment in our excellent growth opportunities.

"Renewables, flexible power and electricity networks are the building blocks of a cleaner and more secure energy system. With world-class assets and capabilities, and enhanced visibility of growth in transmission, SSE is ideally placed to benefit from this structural trend, creating value for shareholders and society.

"Our immediate focus is on delivering our financial and operational growth targets out to 2026/27 and we are on track to do this, converting our premium organic project pipeline into high-quality sustainable earnings."

KeyFacts Energy: SSE UK country profile