GDF Suez said its first-half profit dropped 13 percent due to the outage of two Belgian nuclear reactors and reduced heating demand in Europe, writes Bloomberg, quoted by Agerpres. The French company warned that because of this situations may weigh on full-year earnings, making them smaller than previously expected.

While the utility confirmed 2014 financial targets, GDF Suez said these may be changed in the second half depending on what happens with the Belgian nuclear generators Doel – 3 and Tihange – 2. For this year, the largest French gas supplier has forecast a net recurring income in the range of 3.3 billion to 3.7 billion euros for the year, compared with 3.4 billion euros in 2013.

“Even if we do better on financial charges, 3.3 billion euros is reachable but would be a good result,” Chief Financial Officer Isabelle Kocher said, citing the effects of the relatively warm winter in France, the Belgian reactors and the rising cost of producing electricity in Brazil.

GDF Suez, which operates installations from atomic reactors and pipelines to offshore gas platforms, has been hurt by lower demand for gas-fired power during Europe’s economic slump, leading it to close or mothball more than 11,000 megawatts of capacity. The company has sought to expand in Asia, Latin America and the Middle East to counter the slowdown.

The utility reported yesterday that net recurring income fell in the first semester to 2.125 billion euros from 2.425 billion euros a year earlier. Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization declined 14 percent to 6.6 billion euros, in line with analysts’ predictions. Net debt fell to 26 billion euros.

For the 2014 to 2016 period, GDF Suez plans to invest between 6 billion and 8 billion euros a year, compared with 3 billion euros last year, and scale back asset sales to 2 billion to 3 billion euros a year, according to Bursa daily.

Last year, GDF Suez has recorded a net loss of 9.74 billion euros, compared with a profit of 1.54 billion euros in 2012. The group is present in Romania in three sectors: natural gas, electricity, energy and environmental services.