Outage sparks International Power investors to sell stock
Shares in International Power slid yesterday after the power generator said a nine-week outage at one of its plants would hit profits by £45m.
The firm, led by chief executive Philip Cox, said longer-than-expected maintenance work at its coal power station Rugeley in Staffordshire would hit its second-half results.
Cox said: “One unit suffered a failure on recommissioning, and we now expect it to be offline until the end of the third-quarter.”
The company’s stock fell as much as 7 per cent, before easing back to close down 3.3 per cent at 407p.
International Power has generation interests in around 20 countries worldwide. Cox added the rest of the portfolio was performing strongly.
The group said it will look at adding capacity on existing sites, increasing ownership in existing assets as well as acquisitions – particularly in the Middle East and Southeast Asia where demand is strong.
Its pre-tax profit, before exceptionals, rose 13.4 per cent to £313m.
