The parent firm of Scottish Power, Iberdrola, has confirmed posted a 2% drop in its net profit for the first half of the year.

It said energy efficient schemes in the UK had a negative impact of £81m (€95m) on its latest results.

It added that its first half earning for 2013 were £3.5bn (€4.1bn), while net profit fell 2% to €1.7bn.


The firm's profits were better than to be expected, but were affected by weakness in Brazil, as well as higher taxes in Spain and Britain.

Within the UK, Iberdrola said its performance was helped by increased production due to colder temperatures. Its UK customer base increased by 7.3%.

In the six months to June, the company said it paid 79% more in taxes and levies than it did a year previous. It said this was as a result of a new generation tax in Spain, plus energy efficiency programmes in the UK, where it owns Glasgow-based Scottish Power.

(JP/CD)