Drax Group PLC on Thursday reported a boost in its profit and revenue in its first half, with its full year expectations unchanged.

Drax Group, a Yorkshire, England-based power generator, reported pretax profit in its first half ended June 30 of £338.1 million, a 69% rise from £199.9 million the year prior.

Revenue reached £4.09 billion, up 15% from £3.56 billion the year before.

Chief Executive Officer Will Gardiner said: ‘In the first half of 2023, we delivered a strong system support and generation performance, providing dispatchable, renewable power for millions of UK homes and businesses. Drax Power Station remained the UK’s single largest provider of renewable energy by output during the period.’

Adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation in the first half was up 86% at £417.1 billion, rom £224.7 billion, which the company said was driven by system support services and dispatchable, renewable generation.

Net debt widened 13% to £1.27 billion, from £1.12 billion the year before.

Drax declared a dividend of 9.2 pence per share in the first half, up 9.5% from 8.4p the year before. The company said it expects a 10% rise to pay a 23.1 pence per share dividend for financial 2023, up from 21.0p.

Drax said its financial 2023 adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation remained unchanged, and in line with analyst expectations.

‘We are excited about the opportunity for bioenergy with carbon capture and storage in the UK and are in formal discussions with the UK Government to facilitate the transition to bioenergy with carbon capture and storage at Drax Power Station by 2030. Our plans could create thousands of new jobs in the Humber region, help the UK meet its carbon removals targets and support long-term energy security,’ said CEO Gardiner.

Shares in Drax Energy were down 1.5% at 611.60 pence in London on Thursday morning.

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