Drax profit falls but ups dividend; awaits Bluefield Solar acquisition

Drax Group PLC on Thursday said it is actively developing options for more renewable energy production, including the proposed takeover of Bluefield Solar Income Fund Ltd, as it posted lower profit amid challenging UK weather conditions.

The Selby, North Yorkshire-based electricity generator said pretax profit fell 21% to £222.3 million in the first half of 2026 from £280.7 million a year prior.

Adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation contracted by 39% to £279 million from £460 million.

Revenue declined 6.3% to £2.48 billion from £2.65 billion.

Drax declared a dividend per share of 12.9 pence, up 11% from 11.6p a year prior. It expects an annual dividend of 32.2p for 2026, up 11% from 29.0p in 2025.

Chief Executive Officer Will Gardiner said: "Drax has delivered a good performance in the first half. Our colleagues and supply chain partners have been working hard to help keep the lights on for millions of UK households and businesses through a period of acute geopolitical uncertainty and challenging weather. We are at a key moment in Drax's transition, investing to create a larger and broader portfolio with more megawatts under management that can provide more power to the country when needed."

He added: "Over the years we have grown the business from a single-site biomass generator to a multi-site portfolio operating a broader range of generation technologies. Critically, through our growth plans for batteries, open cycle gas turbines and our Selby site, we are driving economic growth across the country, in alignment with the policy priorities of the UK government."

Drax said it expects to report 2026 adjusted Ebitda in line with analyst consensus estimates, citing £665 million, down 30% on-year, with a range of £643 million to £681 million. For 2025, it had reported adjusted Ebitda of £947 million, down 11% from £1.06 billion in 2024.

CEO Gardiner said Drax is actively developing options for more renewables, such as the proposed acquisition of Bluefield Solar Income, a solar-power focused investment trust.

On June 1, Bluefield Solar Income said it had agreed to a £548 million cash offer from Drax, which implies an enterprise value of £1.08 billion.

The bid was via Drax Smart Generation Holdco Ltd, which is wholly-owned by Drax. Both Drax and Bluefield Solar Income are members of the FTSE 250 index.

Drax's offer will see Bluefield investors receiving 92.57p in cash for each share held, in addition to keeping the second interim dividend of 2.25p per share, which Bluefield paid on June 15.

The cash offer values Bluefield Solar Income about £548 million in total, and is 28% higher than Bluefield's closing share price of 72.20p on November 4, the day before the offer period began.

Last week, Bluefield shareholders approved the takeover by Drax at both court and general meetings.

On Thursday, Bluefield announced that it received satisfaction of the UK National Security & Investment Condition from the UK government.

Bluefield expects its takeover by Drax to become effective on Friday.

Drax shares were down 1.3% to 750.00 pence each on Thursday afternoon in London, while Bluefield Solar Income shares were flat at 92.30p each.

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