ESB Press Release
Dublin, Friday 28th September 2018
ESB GROUP ANNOUNCES INTERIM RESULTS FOR SIX MONTHS TO JUNE 2018
TOTAL CAPITAL INVESTMENT OF €499 MILLION IN CRITICAL LONG TERM ELECTRICITY INFRASTRUCTURE
DIVIDEND OF €1.4 BILLION TO IRISH EXCHEQUER OVER LAST 10 YEARS.
Financial Highlights
- Capital Investment - €499 million
- Operating Profit - €244 million
- Profit after Interest and tax– €141 million
- Dividends - €30 million bringing to almost €1.4 billion paid to the Irish Exchequer in the last ten years
ESB Group today published its Interim Financial Statements for the six months to June 2018 (H1 2018), reporting an operating profit of €244 million and profit after interest and tax of €141 million. ESB continues to deliver reliable and safe electricity networks to 3.1 million customers, provides significant long term savings to over one million Electric Ireland residential electricity and gas customers and invests in critical long term electricity infrastructure including low-carbon and renewable generation.
The six months to the end of June 2018 saw the delivery of a satisfactory financial performance in challenging market conditions with operating profit of €244 million and capital investment of €499 million in long term electricity infrastructure. Profit after interest and taxation for H1 2018 at €141 million was €32 million lower than the same period in 2017, primarily due to lower operating profit from ESB’s electricity generation business due to lower electricity generation margins and lower operating profit in Electric Ireland due to higher wholesale energy costs.
ESB’s Brighter Future strategy through to 2030 commits to leading the transition to reliable, affordable low-carbon energy for the benefit of our customers and the economy. This is demonstrated by our capital investment in strengthening electricity networks, investing in sustainable low-carbon generation like wind and solar and empowering our customers to control how and when they use electricity through smart energy services for Homes and Businesses.
Commenting on the results Pat Fenlon, ESB’s Group Finance Director, said; “In the first six months of 2018, ESB delivered a satisfactory performance in challenging market conditions with profit after interest and tax of €141 million and €499 million of energy infrastructure investments. ESB continued to focus on delivering long term value and investing in critical long term electricity infrastructure for the benefit of our customers, shareholders and the wider Irish economy.”
Shareholders
ESB has approved an interim dividend of €30 million in respect of 2018. Total dividends paid to the Irish Exchequer over the past ten years amount to almost €1.4 billion.
Customers
Electric Ireland was the first supplier in the Irish market to offer enduring long term savings of up to 8.5 per cent to our residential electricity and gas customers. While an increase in residential electricity prices was necessary in August 2018 due to sustained increases in wholesale energy prices, Electric Ireland remains the energy provider with the best long term saving on the market. Electric Ireland’s innovative range of products, which includes residential solar power and the Smarter Home bundle, both introduced in 2018, provides customers with simple ideas to help make their lives easier.
ESB’s networks businesses (ESB Networks and NIE Networks) continued to focus on customer service and delivering reliable and safe electricity over increasingly smarter networks to 3.1 million homes, farms and businesses in Ireland.
Irish Economy
ESB invested €499 million in energy infrastructure investments during H1 2018.
ESB contributes almost €2 billion annually to the Irish economy through dividends, investments, taxes and jobs. ESB provides significant employment both directly, with over 7,800 employees, and indirectly through contractors and service providers.
The ESB Group Interim Financial Statements for the six months ended 30 June 2018 can be found here – esb.ie/ir.
Ends
About ESB
ESB operates across the electricity market: from generation, through transmission and distribution to the supply of customers with an expanding presence in the Great Britain generation market. In addition we extract further value through supplying gas, energy services and using our networks to carry fibre for telecommunications. ESB is the owner of the distribution and transmission networks in the Republic of Ireland (via ESB Networks) and Northern Ireland (via Northern Ireland Electricity Networks Ltd). In H1 2018 it had a 42% share of generation in the all-island market (via Generation and Wholesale Markets) and a 33% share of electricity supply in the all-island market (via Electric Ireland) with 1.4 million customer accounts.
ESB contributes almost €2 billion annually to the Irish economy through dividends, investments, taxes and jobs. ESB provides significant employment both directly, with over 7,800 employees, and indirectly through contractors and service providers. Read more here