Enlarge imageBy David Cullen
LONDON (Reuters) - Scottish Power
"There will be price rises and, given the current market prices, they are likely to be quite significant. We are talking about double digits, but when it will be we have not taken a firm view yet," Chief Executive Philip Bowman said.
The firm, which in November walked away from a 10.7
billion-pound takeover offer from Germany’s E.ON
Adjusted profit before tax at the Glasgow, Scotland-based company for the three months to December 31 was 38 percent higher than the previous year at 197 million pounds, while the nine-month figure jumped 42 percent to 470 million pounds.
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Britain’s fifth-biggest energy supplier also said the $9.4
billion (5.4 billion-pound) sale of its U.S. business
PacifiCorp to MidAmerican Energy Holdings Co, part of Warren
Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway
It had expected the deal to close between May and November.
Scottish Power has been the focus of bid speculation since it agreed to sell PacifiCorp last year, and the recent appointment of Bowman as chief executive has helped fuel rumours that the man who sold drinks group Allied Domecq might steer the utility towards a new deal with E.ON.
E.ON turned its back on Scottish Power after its offer was rebuffed in late November, barring the firm under British takeover rules from making a fresh approach for six months.
However, Bowman declined to give much away on the E.ON issue, saying that while he would continue to canvass views from shareholders on the company’s future, his focus was to grow the UK business.
Bowman also said that no decision had been made about the fate of its U.S.-based wind energy business PPM, which reported adjusted operating profit up 31 million pounds to 43 million pounds for the third quarter.
PRICE PAIN
Scottish Power said its 5.2 million energy users -- up 92,000 from March -- could expect bills to rise again as it looked to plug the rising gap between wholesale costs and what it charges them.
"The reality is that the market price of gas is substantially higher than the price that utility companies in the UK are supplying to their customers," Bowman, who only joined Scottish Power last month, told reporters.
The company raised gas bills by 12 percent last October, at the same time hiking electricity costs by 5-8 percent.
Scottish Power said earnings per share rose 6 percent to 10.8 pence for the third quarter and by 49 percent to 20.2 pence for the first nine months. It said the third-quarter dividend was up 5 percent at 5.2 pence as it looked to meet its 25 pence-a-share commitment for the year.
Scottish Power said that during the next financial year and when the PacifiCorp sale has completed, it planned to replace quarterly results with half-year and full-year reporting.
Scottish Power shares were up 0.1 percent at 583 pence by 10:09 a.m., valuing the business at around 10.9 billion pounds.
