North Yorkshire-based power company Drax Group plc on Wednesday reported a rise in adjusted core earnings for the first half of the year, boosted by its purchase of gas, hydro and pumped storage power plants from Iberdrola’s Scottish Power.

Drax said adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) for the first half of 2019 rose 35.3% to £138 million, including £36 million pounds from the new assets. 

Drax bought the power generation assets from Scottish Power in a £702 million deal which closed on January 1.

Drax Group CEO Will Gardiner said: “Drax Group has delivered strong profit and dividend growth in the first half of the year.

“Integration of our new hydro and gas generation assets is progressing well and the value the group delivers from supporting the energy system has almost doubled.

“Drax is supporting British business with innovative new energy services and, despite challenging market conditions, our customers business continues to grow.

“Our biomass cost reduction initiative and plans for expanded biomass self-supply are going well.

“Drax wholeheartedly supports the UK’s target of achieving net zero carbon emissions by 2050.

“Reducing our greenhouse gas emissions by half in the past year underscores Drax’s commitment to this goal.

“With the right investment and regulatory framework we could go further and Drax could become the world’s first carbon negative power station – something the UK Committee on Climate Change recognises will be crucial.”