Finland's Fortum misses profit view, says data centres hold up long-term demand

By Elviira Luoma

Oct 28 (Reuters) - Fortum reported an operating profit miss and trimmed its nuclear generation forecast on Wednesday, knocking its shares 3% lower, even as the utility assured long-term power demand remained strong on the back of Finland's data centre build-out.

Finland's leading energy company, which relies on nuclear and hydropower for most of its electricity generation, is banking on rising Nordic power demand from data centres and other large electricity users to support power prices in the longer term.

Data centre activity in Finland is at a very high level, which supports long-term demand, CEO Markus Rauramo said, adding that Fortum was engaged in dialogue with a broad range of customers.

"I expect that not all projects will move forward. There are various permitting and other issues that will slow some projects and even stop them, but that is to be expected, which is why our own project pipeline is so large," Rauramo told Reuters.

"We believe that considerable demand growth is indeed coming, based on current indications," he said.

Fortum last month signed a 22-year power purchase agreement with Alphabet's Google for up to 50% of the output of one of Finland's two nuclear plants, tied to the technology company's $15 billion AI infrastructure expansion in Finland.

Fortum said the deal provided economic certainty for the lifetime extension and upgrade of its Loviisa power plant through 2050 and demonstrated nuclear energy's importance in meeting growing demand for low-carbon electricity.

However, realisation of demand in the near term remains gradual and industrial electrification projects continue to progress at different speeds depending on the sector, it said.

Fortum's comparable operating profit grew around 5% to €102 million ($113.57 million) in the third quarter, narrowly missing analysts' median forecast of €105 million in a company-provided consensus.

The company said it expected nuclear generation volumes to be about 23.0 terawatt-hours in 2026, at the bottom end of its previous forecast of 23.0 to 23.5 TWh.

($1 = 0.8981 euros)

(Reporting by Elviira Luoma in Gdansk, editing by Milla Nissi-Prussak)