EDF's 2015 Net Profit Hit By New Costs Related to Nuclear Waste Storage
January 16 2016 - 10:49AM
Dow Jones News
By Inti Landauro
PARIS--French power utility Electricite de France said the
increase of its nuclear waste storage project's cost estimation
will have a EUR500 million ($546 million) negative impact on its
bottom line in 2015.
The company will have to raise the provisions it had set aside
to finance the storage facility to be built deep underground below
eastern France to store nuclear waste by about EUR800 million after
the French government has increased the project's cost estimation
to EUR25 billion from a previous EUR20.8 billion.
"The increase in provisions will have a negative impact of
around 500 million euros post-tax on net income Group share in
2015," EDF said in a statement.
The impact on its bottom line will stem from a EUR800 million
additional provision set aside to finance the nuclear waste storage
project.
The company's board will decide later how to translate the
negative impact on its dividend.
The former electricity monopoly has seen its profitability in
France fall in recent years as it lost market share to other
operators. Increased costs related to more stringent nuclear safety
measures imposed on its reactors following the Fukushima disaster
in 2011.
-Write to Inti Landauro at inti.Landauro@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
January 16, 2016 11:34 ET (16:34 GMT)
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