Energy giant SSE has decided to offload its stake in the gas networks business that serves Scotland and southern England as it invests heavily in renewables.
The Perth-based company said it was progressing options for divestment of all its 33 per cent equity stake in SGN, which was formerly known as Scotia Gas Networks.
In February SSE said it had appointed banks to review options for divestment of all or part of its stake in SGN.
The company noted then it was on track to raise £2 billion plus from a disposals programme that would create value and support its strategic focus on net zero.
READ MORE: Scottish energy giant exits North Sea with £120m sale of gas production business
However, in an update released yesterday, SSE said weather conditions left output from renewable sources 9% below plan as at March 23, against 5% in the nine months to December 31.
The company said it expects the impact of the coronavirus crisis to wipe £180m off profits in the year to March 31, compared to the previously forecast £150m to £250m range.
READ MORE: SSE wins backing from international financiers to build world's biggest windfarm
Finance director Gregor Alexander said the company was making good progress in renewables with flagship projects in the UK on track and was also generating further growth options internationally.
Canadian pension funds and the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority also have stakes in SGN.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here