EDF Energy
Profit before tax fell by 8.5% in 2014 Reuters

EDF Energy has seen its profits drop by 8.5% in its UK operations for last year thanks to a mild winter 2013/14.

The French company, which has recently announced that it will reduce prices by 1.3%, said that its earnings before interest and tax fell by 8.5% to €1.9bn (£1.4bn) in the UK last year as a result of the warmer than expected temperature, and also unplanned outages in August.

The company also confirmed in its annual results that it will make a decision on its investment in a £16bn project with an aim of building two nuclear reactors at Hinkley Point, within the "next few months".

However, EDF emphasised the complexity of building a new station. It said in a statement: "EDF and the UK Government are working hard to finalise all agreements on Hinkley Point C and are making significant progress in all areas with the shared objective of finalising documents in the coming weeks.

"This will allow a final investment decision to be possible in the next few months."

The group as a whole, which operates all over Europe, said that pre-tax profit was up by 7.4% to €17.3bn, but it's Italian arm also took a hit with profit plummeting by 17.3% to €886m.

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