Fortum reported a drop in third-quarter profit, citing lower power generation from its nuclear and hydro plants which also pushed its net debt higher.
The Finnish state-controlled utility said on Wednesday that comparable operating profit fell to 97 million euros from 158 million euros a year earlier.
The company's financial net debt rose to nearly 1.3 billion euros, a significant increase after it had reported near-zero net debt earlier in the year.
Fortum attributed the lower output to an unplanned outage at its Oskarshamn nuclear plant in Sweden and reduced water levels for its hydropower facilities.
"Our nuclear and hydro output was as much as 1.7 TWh below last year’s third quarter, mainly due to the continued unplanned outage throughout the quarter at the Oskarshamn nuclear plant and lower hydro inflows," Chief Executive Markus Rauramo said in a statement.
For the full year, Fortum said it expects total generation volumes to be "clearly below the normal level."
The results come as Fortum continues to pivot toward renewables, recently announcing the acquisition of a large wind power development portfolio in Finland.
The company also said it would invest 85 million euros to decarbonize a power plant in Poland as part of its plan to exit coal by the end of 2027.
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Finnish utility Fortum reported a sharp drop in second-quarter profit, citing struggles with its core nuclear and hydropower assets, while announcing a major acquisition to expand its wind power portfolio.
Fitch Ratings upgraded Fortum's long-term credit rating to BBB+ from BBB, citing the Finnish energy company's improved financial strength and sustained reduction in debt.