British Energy said on May 30 it was talking to a broad range of potential partners to help build new nuclear power stations, as it met forecasts with a 44 percent rise in underlying annual earnings.
"The interest is far broader and far deeper than I would have expected," Chief Executive Bill Coley told reporters.
British Energy is the country's biggest electrical power producer, capable of meeting about a fifth of its power needs, but its ageing nuclear plants have suffered a string of faults.
The firm received a big boost last week when the government came out in support of building a new generation of nuclear power stations, as it looks to reduce its reliance on imported fuels and cut carbon emissions. British Energy has invited potential partners to submit plans to build new plants on its land.
Coley declined to say how many parties it was talking to, or to name them. But he said they included firms with existing nuclear interests, which could include Germany's RWE and E.ON, and some looking to expand into the sector, which analysts said could include utility Centrica.
He also said it was talking to large users of electricity which might want to invest in new nuclear plants, as well as a number of foreign companies, which analysts said was likely to include France's Suez, EDF and Areva.
British Energy, which runs eight nuclear power stations and one coal-fired plant, said it made adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) of 1.22 billion pounds ($2.42 billion) in the year ended March 31, as higher selling prices more than offset a fall in output.
Forecasts ranged from 1.07 billion to 1.26 billion pounds, according to a Reuters Estimates survey of 13 analysts.
Output fell to 58.4 terawatt hours (TWh) from 68.4 TWh the year before as the firm was hit by a series of unplanned repairs. But fixed contract prices rose to an average 44.2 pounds per megawatt hour (MWh) from 32 pounds the year before.
The firm said it had fixed price contracts in place for about 57 TWh of output for the current financial year at an average of 42 pounds a megawatt hour and for about 33 TWh of output for fiscal 2008-9 at the same price.
Citigroup analysts said this was slightly ahead of their forecasts. But they also said a they were likely to cut their 55 TWh forecast for nuclear output this financial year because of longer-than-expected repairs at the Hunterston and Hinkley plants and noted that the firm was warning of higher costs.
British Energy said its central projection for nuclear output this financial year was around 53.5 TWh, up from 51.2 TWh the year before, and that investment would be toward the higher end of its 250 million to 300 million pound forecast range.
British Energy shares, which have underperformed the European utilities index by 38 percent over the past 12 months, were down 1.1 percent at 563 pence by 0830 GMT, valuing the business at about 6.8 billion pounds.
British Energy needed a state bail-out in 2002 after a slump in power prices and a big nuclear clean-up bill drove it to near collapse. It has bounced back, helped by a recovery in prices and said it would pay a dividend of 13.6 pence a share, the first since its restructuring.
The British government shelved plans last year to sell all or part of its 65-percent stake in the firm. Coley said he did not know whether the government still wanted to sell.
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