Spanish utility Iberdrola said heavy investments over the last year as well as higher tariffs and better efficiency in Brazil helped deliver an 11.9 per cent rise in core earnings in the three months to March. Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization was up from EUR 2.3bn to EUR 2.6bn in the period, according to Financial Times.

Analysts polled by Refinitiv has expected EUR 2.5bn.

The company also revised its growth expectations for full-year results and dividend from “mid-single digit” to “high single digit.”

“These results, together with the evolution of our different growth initiatives, reaffirm our positive outlook for the whole of 2019,” said Iberdrola chairman and chief executive Ignacio Galán.

The Spanish energy group has among the largest renewable energy asset bases in the world, with large network and generation operations in the US, UK, Mexico and Brazil, aside from its home market. Iberdrola says it made more than EUR 5.3bn in investments in the last 12 months and will install 4,100 new megawatts of capacity in 2019, which will increase annual production by 13 per cent.