Scottish Power owner and global energy giant Iberdrola said its UK arm played a significant part in profits rising by more than 50% in the first nine months of this year
Iberdrola recently announced it was doubling its investment in UK projects to £24 billion after Energy Secretary Ed Miliband overturned objections to renewables developments in Lincolnshire, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire.
Nine-month net profit at Iberdrola, which has assets in the US, Spain, Brazil and Mexico as well as the UK, rose to €5.47 billion from €3.64 billion even though revenues dropped 11% with a big one-off gain in Mexico helping the numbers.
In the UK, the networks arm gross profit rose by 15.7% to €1.39 billion, while production and customers dipped by 4.6% to €2.12 billion, which included a €121 million charge for the East Anglian 1 wind farm.
Iberdrola executive chairman Ignacio Sanchez Galan said: “Our continued major investment drive is delivering new renewables projects and regulated assets, and the contribution to results of our increased offshore wind capacity underlines the reason why investment in this technology was a key pillar in our strategic plan."
He forecast underlying net profit in 2024 for the Spanish group to increase by 14% to €5.5 billion.