Engie earnings hit by lower gas prices, renewables drop

By America Hernandez

PARIS (Reuters) -Engie on Thursday reported an 18% tumble in its third-quarter earnings, missing forecasts, as lower hydropower output and a drop in gas prices took their toll on the French utility.

Although Engie sold more gas, the benchmark European price for the third quarter was 9% lower than the same period in 2024, with lower volatility leading to lower sales and trading profits.

"The normalisation of energy prices penalised us this year, but we have made good progress on our improved performance plan," Engie CFO Pierre-Francois Riolacci told reporters.

Engie's earnings before interest and tax (EBIT), excluding nuclear, fell to 1.2 billion euros ($1.4 billion) from 1.47 billion euros in the third quarter last year and missed a 1.4 billion euro analyst consensus forecast from Visible Alpha.

JP Morgan analyst Javier Garrido said the results were solid, noting Engie had signed long-term U.S. power deals with companies such as Meta as data center demand booms and the company's shares were up 0.38% at 21.03 euros at 0951 GMT.

Engie's earnings from gas generation dropped 12.8% year on year for the first nine months of 2025, despite an increase in the volumes of gas sold.

Lower hydropower output in France resulted in a 6.9% drop in earnings from renewables generation, even as Engie started up new projects in North America and Latin America.

Engie's networks business saw a 47% rise in earnings for the first nine months from operations in France, Brazil and Mexico.

The company also benefited from a $101 million arbitration award following a dispute with French oil major TotalEnergies over undelivered liquefied natural gas cargoes.

Meanwhile, Engie's net financial debt rose by 2.7 billion euros as it made a final payment to the Belgian government to transfer the ownership and liability of two nuclear reactors. 

U.S. MARKET GROWING UNCERTAIN

While the U.S. power market allows Engie to get sizeable premiums over forward market prices through long-term supply deals, uncertainty due to tariffs and policy reversals on renewables had led to caution on future projects, said CEO Catherine MacGregor.

"It is too uncertain for us to build out as much as we would like to," MacGregor added.

Two U.S. renewable projects are awaiting permit approval, which has been frozen by the ongoing government shutdown.

However, Abu Dhabi was a promising renewables market that met Engie's investment criteria, MacGregor said.

($1 = 0.8575 euros)

(Reporting by America Hernandez in Paris; Editing by David Goodman and Alexander Smith)