Iberdrola profits down due to pound weakness

Spain’s largest power company, Iberdrola, posted Wednesday a fall in its first quarter net profit, partly due to the weakness in the pound following Britain’s decision to exit the European Union.

The company, which generates over a quarter ot its earnings in Britain where it owns Scottish Power, said its net profit in the January-March period dropped 4.7 percent over the same time last year to hit 827 million euros ($901 million).

That is slightly above the average for the period of 824 million euros expected by analysts surveyed by Factset.

Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) for its generation and supply business in Britain plunged by 75.3 to 55.4 million euros due to the depreciation of the pound by 10.3 percent during the first quarter, Ibderdrola said in a statement.

EBITDA for its network business in the country fell by 11.2 percent to 322.6 million euros.

The company said its results in Britain were also hurt by the closing in March 2016 of Scottish Power’s thermal plant in Longannet, which affected the quarter-on-quarter comparison, as well as by growing competition in the customer market in Britain.

Britain has been closing coal-fired plants ahead of a 2023 deadline for compliance with new EU rules on air quality.

emi/ds/jh