May 25 (Reuters) – British power company SSE (SSE.L) reported a 23% jump in annual profit on Wednesday and sought to highlight plans to invest billions in Britain over the coming years amid speculation the government could be planning a windfall tax on energy firms.
Several media outlets reported on Wednesday that Britain is considering taxing companies that have benefited from high energy prices following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, to help raise cash to support households facing soaring energy bills.
Britain’s finance minister Rishi Sunak has said no option is off the table if companies are not seen to be re-investing their large profits in British projects and jobs. read more
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SSE said it plans to invest up to 24 billion pounds ($30 billion) in British energy infrastructure this decade including in new wind and hydro electric power projects.
CEO Alistair Phillips-Davies said the windfall tax was “newspaper speculation” and as such he would not speculate on what kind of impact it could have on the company’s investment plans if imposed.
” We wouldn’t have put the 24 billion investment number out there unless we were confident about it,” he told journalists on a media call.
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