EDF first-quarter sales jump but core profit outlook capped by outages

PARIS – French state-owned utility EDF‘s first-quarter sales jumped 61% to 35.58 billion euros ($37.40 billion) on the back of higher power and gas prices but the firm was cautious about its core profit outlook.

It said the increase in sales will only have a limited impact on core earnings as a decline in its nuclear production due to reactor outages will force it to buy power on wholesale markets in a context of high prices.

EDF also said it had no exposure to Russian companies affected by international sanctions but it had suffered an indirect impact via strong commodity market volatility, higher market prices and some tensions on its supply chains.

($1 = 0.9514 euros)