French utility Engie posted a 9.4% fall in half-year earnings on Friday, as higher income from natural gas distribution failed to offset lower energy prices and hydropower production.
The company reported first-half earnings before interest and tax (EBIT), excluding nuclear, of 5.1 billion euros ($5.82 billion), compared to 5.6 billion euros a year ago.
“These results are solid in normalising market conditions and in an uncertain economic and geopolitical context,” said CEO Catherine MacGregor.
Europe’s largest gas network operator said last month that a colder 2025 had resulted in a boost of 6.5 Terawatt-hours (TWh) of gas distributed and sold to clients versus the prior year.
However that was tempered by a 2.1 TWh drop in French hydropower production due to less rain, and a 2.2 TWh drop in nuclear production, after Belgium permanently retired Engie’s Doel 1 nuclear plant in February and took the Tihange 3 plant offline in April for life-extension upgrades.
Engie has sought in recent years to exit the nuclear business, refocus on its core natural gas holdings and reinvest the profits into renewables.
The company is moving ahead with three wind and solar projects in the U.S., after President Donald Trump finalised the annual budget providing clarity on energy policy, MacGregor told journalists.
“The clients and U.S. market remain very promising,” she said, adding that projections for data centre buildout cannot be done without a large amount of renewable energy projects.
($1 = 0.8757 euros)
(Reporting by America Hernandez in Paris)
