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Power generation group Drax Power hiked its dividend after swinging to a profit in the first half of the year thanks to decline in costs.
For the six months ended 30 June, pre-tax profit was £51.8 million compared with a loss of £85.3 million year-on-year as revenue increased to £2.17 billion from £2.12 billion.
The operating margin increased by 80bps from 4.2% in Q2 to 5.0% in Q3 as 'we continued to manage our costs, resize our business, and adapt our operations,' the company said.
'We believe that this was a solid performance which reflected increased production of lower cost biomass, the acquisition of Pinnacle and an improvement in the Customers business following the easing of lockdown restrictions in the UK, offsetting additional biomass cost in generation,' it added.
The company raised its dividend by 10% and said its expectations for full-year remained unchanged.