E.ON has revealed that UK sales jumped 14pc to €5bn in the first six months of the year, as overall net profits more than trebled following a deal with Russian gas giant Gazprom.

Confirming a preliminary estimate released last week, Germany’s biggest power supplier said that its underlying net income for the January to June period rose to “roughly €3.3bn (£2.6bn)” from €0.9bn a year earlier.

Operating profit, as measured by earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA), soared 55.8pc to €6.7bn on a 23pc rise in sales to €65.4bn.

In the UK, sales rose to €5bn from €4.3bn in 2011, on higher demand for gas. Sales would have been higher but for the sale of Central Networks, the second biggest electricity distributor in the UK, to US company PPL for £4bn in March.

EBITDA at the UK unit rose to €297m from €228m but investment fell by more than €100m to €52m following the Central Networks sale.

E.ON said last week that first-half net profit would treble owing to the gas price supply deal with Gazprom and the fact that year-earlier earnings had been hit by one-off effects from the German nuclear phase-out.

At the beginning of July, E.ON reached a deal on lower gas prices with Gazprom.

E.ON said it was sticking to its forecast for 2012, with EBITDA expected at €10.4bn to €11bn and net profit at €4.1bn to €4.5bn.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/energy/oilandgas/9471807/E.ON-reveals-higher-UK-sales-as-group-profits-treble.html