The Viridian Group today reported a 15 per cent jump in annual profits.
Viridian - parent company of Northern Ireland Electricity (NIE)
- said pre-tax profits for the year to the end of March were £129 million, up from £112.5 million the year before. Turnover was up 13 per cent at £943.7 million from £834.2 million in 2004.
The profit was achieved while the company made a further £72.5 million investment in the NIE network and systems. Earnings per share was up 14 per cent to 60.8p.
The company declared a final dividend of 25.34p per share, which, together with the interim dividend of 9.84p, gave a total dividend of 35.18p - a 4.5 per cent increase over last year.
Chief executive Patrick Haren said the company had produced a good set of results and said there had been a strong focus on the development of the energy market in both Northern Ireland and the Republic.
He said the all-Ireland market was very important to growth opportunities.
Mr Haren said further investment in generation was central to the company's strategy in the Republic and confirmed it intended to begin construction of phase two of the Huntstown power station this summer.