UK's Drax posts higher first half profits

(Reuters) -British power generator Drax posted higher first half profits on Friday on strong renewable power output and said it expects annual profit to be at the top end of market expectations.

First half pre-tax profits were 463 million pounds, up 37% on the same period in 2023, on higher output from the company's biomass plants and stronger sales from its biomass pellet production sites.

Drax has converted four coal-power units to use sustainable biomass and is aiming to build carbon capture and storage technology at the sites.

It also plans to build its bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS) plants in the United States and said it has selected its first potential site in the southeast of the country.

The company, which is UK's largest renewable power firm by output, said adjusted core profit for 2024 is expected to be above analysts' consensus of 961 million pounds ($1.24 billion).

($1 = 0.7775 pounds)

(Reporting by Susanna Twidale in London and Radhika Anilkumar in Bengaluru; Editing by Sonia Cheema and Christina Fincher)