Drax's H1 adj EBITDA rises 35%

UK power producer Drax Group Plc (LON:DRX) saw its adjusted EBITDA for the first half of 2019 rise by 35% on the year, as newly-acquired assets made a solid contribution to generation.

The company recorded adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) of GBP 138 million (USD 172m/EUR 154.5m) in January-June 2019, compared with GBP 102 million a year back. This includes a GBP-36-million contribution from the Hydro and Gas assets it acquired from Iberdrola-owned Scottish Power Ltd at the very start of 2019. At the same time, the EBITDA figure excludes GBP 34 million of capacity payments due to the suspension of the Capacity Market in Britain. Drax expects this market to be re-established this year.

The table below gives more details about the company’s financial performance in the first half of 2019.

"Drax Group has delivered strong profit and dividend growth in the first half of the year. Integration of our new Hydro and Gas generation assets is progressing well and the value the Group delivers from supporting the energy system has almost doubled,” commented CEO Will Gardiner.

The company operates the Drax power station at Selby in North Yorkshire, England, most of which runs on biomass now. Drax registered a 52% reduction in its carbon emissions in the first half of 2019 compared to the same period last year, it said separately on Wednesday.

Drax reaffirmed its full-year EBITDA and net debt projections but noted that its forecast depends on the Capacity Market being re-established. The company plans to increase its interim dividend by 12.5% to GBP 25 million, or GBP 0.064 per share.

(GBP 1.0 = USD 1.25/EUR 1.12)

Choose your newsletter by Renewables Now. Join for free!