The £300m to shareholders only happens if they go ahead with a proposed share buyback program over the next two years.
They have paid out £54m in dividends in the first half of the year as well as £114m in the Electricity Generator Levy which I presume goes to HMRC.
source:
half year report presentation
(, Fri 9 Aug 2024, 16:20, Reply)
but aren't the subsidies there to help the business be more green?
rather than let it increase profitability?
(, Fri 9 Aug 2024, 16:58, Reply)
Possibly they are but don't rule out them also being provided just to keep things running.
Subsidies run ahead of any eventual profit or loss so profitability isn't guaranteed. Governments (and others) provide funds/credit on the basis that a return* will be made even in a bad** year but none of that is gauranteed. Along comes war, weather and other world events and the whole plan goes awry.
*return might be monetary or something like the provision of power/developments
**as bad as they modeled for not necessarily as bad as reality
(, Fri 9 Aug 2024, 17:19, Reply)