Energy supplier may sell French plants to fund nuclear redevelopment - 13/02/2009
Energy supplier
EDF may sell some of its plants in France in order to make up for a 40 per cent profit slide and proceed with nuclear redevelopment.
The company recently acquired nuclear provider British Energy in a £12.5 billion takeover and has been entrusted with the task of redeveloping nuclear infrastructure in the UK.
It could decide to scale down its more than £20 billion of debt by selling one or more of the 58 reactors that it already operates on the continent.
Pierre Gadonneix, chief executive of EDF, said: "We don't exclude anything off the spectrum, neither in France nor abroad."
The French state-owned energy supplier has an extensive presence in the UK and will be leading the redevelopment of Britain's nuclear infrastructure over the course of the next ten years.
Prime minister Gordon Brown supports nuclear energy as one of the best ways to safeguard Britain's energy future, reduce greenhouse gas emissions and ultimately provide better access to both domestic and business energy rates that are more forgiving.
Critics have argued that too much of Britain's energy sector now lies under the influence of foreign powers.
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