SSE rules out ScottishPower bid

Scottish & Southern Energy ruled itself out of a possible bid battle for local rival ScottishPower yesterday after beating forecasts with a 35 per cent jump in first-half profit.

The country's third-largest gas and power supplier has long been tipped as a potential merger partner for ScottishPower, which said last week it had received a preliminary approach. "On the ScottishPower situation, we are not involved and we do not expect to be involved," Scottish & Southern Energy (SSE) chief executive Ian Marchant said yesterday.

Spain's No 2 energy company Iberdrola has since said it might make a bid for ScottishPower, a move which analysts say could pave the way for a bidding war for the Glasgow-based firm, which has 5.2 million customers. "We are the fastest growing supplier of all six - we think that growth can continue at least for the next six to nine months. We're geared up for that growth," Mr Marchant said.

"To us, what happens in terms of consolidation is largely irrelevant." SSE also posted a 35 per cent jump in first-half profit, boosted by strong returns from its coal, hydro and gas assets. It said adjusted pre-tax profit rose to £455.4m for the six months to end-September from £336.3m the year before.

SSE, which is raising gas and power bills by 12.2 and 9.4 per cent respectively on 1 January, said it had 7.5 million customers at the start of this month, 1 million more than the year before.

It also said it intends to apply for two southern England-based "inset appointments" in the water sector, which will allow it to install, own and operate water services for larger customers for the first time.