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Engie third-quarter EBIT excluding nuclear falls 18%

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Gas earnings 12.8% lower, renewables fall 6.9%

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US power market uncertain due to tariffs, permits -CEO

(Adds debt hit from Belgian nuclear payment in paragraph 10,

CEO quotes 11-12)

By America Hernandez

PARIS, Nov 6 (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)