LONDON, April 2, 2026, 16:12 BST
SSE lifted the lower end of its full-year earnings guidance on Thursday after stronger renewable generation and heavier spending on electricity networks boosted performance. The UK utility now expects adjusted earnings per share, its headline profit measure, of 147 pence to 152 pence for the year ended March 31, up from a prior 144 pence to 152 pence, with preliminary results due on May 28. 1
The update lands at a sensitive moment for Britain’s energy market. Government data released on Thursday showed renewables supplied a record 52.5% of the country’s electricity in 2025, while analysts at Cornwall Insight forecast the household energy price cap, the quarterly tariff ceiling for standard deals, will rise about 18% in July. 2
SSE is one of the companies at the centre of that push after laying out a 33 billion pound, five-year investment plan in November to expand renewables and modernise the grid as power demand grows from electric vehicles and artificial intelligence-linked data centres. On Thursday it said there had been no immediate effect on performance from developments in the Middle East. 1
The company said renewable output for 2025/26 should come in at about 14.5 terawatt hours, a measure of electricity generation, up 10% from a year earlier. Its networks businesses are expected to deliver about a 60% rise in capital investment, with group spending of roughly 3.5 billion pounds and adjusted net debt and hybrid capital just over 10 billion pounds at March 31. 3
Most of the extra networks spending has gone into transmission, where SSE said five of its 11 major projects are now under construction and 26 of the 34 required major consents have been secured. All other operating profit expectations and forward guidance were left unchanged. 3
The update also comes after a January offshore wind auction that handed some of the biggest contracts to SSE and Germany’s RWE. Britain secured record offshore wind capacity in that round as it tries to largely decarbonise the power sector by 2030. 4
Aarin Chiekrie, an equity analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, wrote that the tighter range puts SSE in the “top half of previous guidance” and that the shares were “broadly flat in early trading.” Keith Bowman at Interactive Investor struck a more cautious note, writing that “the cost of investments is likely to weigh on earnings in the short to medium term.” 5
The upgrade still leaves SSE below the 160.9 pence of adjusted earnings per share it reported a year earlier. Some risks are unchanged: renewable output is exposed to weather, and returns on regulated grid spending can arrive only after the cash has been deployed. 4
A further rise in gas prices could sharpen that pressure. Ofgem approved 28 billion pounds of grid investment in December, but the politics are awkward as household bills come under fresh strain, even if SSE says its business mix has so far absorbed the latest turbulence in energy markets. 6
For now, the trading update gave SSE a firmer earnings floor without changing the broader script of heavy investment. Investors will get a fuller read on cash flow, debt and project delivery when the company reports on May 28. 3
