LONDON, May 15, 2026, 11:05 BST
- SSE restated its FY2025/26 adjusted EPS guidance to 149p–154p from 147p–152p after a Neos Networks accounting change.
- Cboe Europe pricing indicated the shares at about 2,346.5p, down 4.6%, on Friday morning.
- The UK utility is due to report preliminary results for the year to March 31 on May 28.
SSE PLC has raised its full-year adjusted earnings per share guidance after changing how it accounts for losses at Neos Networks, giving the British power group a higher profit range just before annual results. Adjusted EPS is a company profit measure used to show earnings after selected items are stripped out or recast.
For investors, the source of the upgrade is the point. The move improves the earnings number, but it is accounting-led, not a fresh signal that wind output, power prices or grid returns have suddenly moved in SSE’s favour.
The timing still matters. SSE reports on May 28, and the market is already judging whether the group can keep funding a £33 billion investment plan to build renewables and modernise electricity networks as demand rises from electric vehicles, data centres and wider electrification.
SSE said the carrying value of its equity investment in Neos had been reduced to nil. Under IAS 28, the accounting rule for associates and joint ventures, that means it cannot recognise further losses from the business, lifting FY2025/26 adjusted earnings metrics by 1.9p without restating previously reported numbers.
The company now expects adjusted EPS of 149p–154p, up from 147p–152p. In the Neos line, adjusted operating profit moves from a £17.9 million loss to a £0.8 million loss, while adjusted profit after tax moves from a £23.2 million loss to a £1.3 million loss.
SSE also changed the presentation of some alternative performance measures, or APMs, which are company-defined measures used alongside statutory accounts. It restated FY2024/25 adjusted net debt and hybrid capital to £10.07 billion from £10.19 billion, but said there was no change to FY2025/26 net debt guidance of just over £10 billion.
The shares were under pressure anyway. A real-time Cboe Europe estimate showed SSE at about 2,346.5p, down roughly 4.6%, with the stock also lower over the prior five sessions.
The accounting update follows an April trading statement in which SSE had said renewable output was expected to rise 10% to about 14.5 terawatt hours, while regulated networks investment was running about 60% above the prior year. The company also guided to capital expenditure of about £3.5 billion for the year.
Policy remains a live issue for the sector. Britain last month set out plans to offer fixed contracts to older low-carbon generators and increase the Electricity Generator Levy to 55% from 45%, a move that has weighed on utilities exposed to UK power markets. SSE has traded in the same policy-sensitive pack as Centrica, RWE and Ørsted.
Away from the accounting line, SSE Airtricity and Activ8 Energies this week launched an all-island funded solar plan worth up to €200 million, or about £170 million, for businesses in Ireland and Northern Ireland. The scheme uses power purchase agreements, long-term contracts under which customers buy electricity generated on site at an agreed rate while the provider funds, installs and maintains the solar system.
Stephen Gallagher, managing director of SSE Airtricity, said the plan offered businesses “price certainty” and removed the “upfront cost barrier.” Activ8 Chief Executive Ciaran Marron said energy price instability “has become a real issue” for Irish businesses. SSE
The Irish backdrop helps explain the push. Ireland’s government said on Thursday that recent global energy shocks had underscored the need to develop domestic renewables, while the Commission for Regulation of Utilities has said elevated energy prices reflect wholesale costs, network design and investment needs rather than a failure of retail competition.
But the cleaner EPS guide does not add cash, and the risks are still blunt. Funding costs are one swing factor: Kalshi pricing for the Bank of England’s June decision showed no change at 80% and a 1–25 basis point hike at 16%, while Polymarket put the chance of a 2026 Bank of England rate hike at 59%; higher rates would not reverse the Neos accounting uplift, but they could press returns around SSE’s debt-heavy grid and renewables build-out.
