Net profit of France’s state-owned EDF rose to 3.9 billion euro (EUR) (about 5.4 billion US dollars) from EUR 3.48 billion in the previous year. Net income from ordinary operations fell 10.7 percent to EUR 3.92 billion from EUR 4.39 billion.

Henri Proglio, EDF chairman and chief executive officer, said 2009 was an “overall solid year” for the group despite “an exceptionally difficult year in France”.

In France, nuclear generation amounted to 390 terawatt hours (TWh) of electricity in 2009, down from 418 TWh in 2008. EDF said the 28 TWh decline was primarily due to the impact of strikes. The availability factor of the French nuclear fleet was 78 percent in 2009, down from 79.2 percent in 2008.

Mr Proglio said a rebound in French nuclear generation, together with the stability of its international activities, will allow EDF to resume "organic growth" while pursuing its investment in maintenance programmes and in new generating capacity in France and abroad.

In the UK, EDF said sales totalled EUR 11 billion, up 33.9 percent. The group said this “remarkable growth” was driven by the performance of British Energy (BE), which recorded a 36 percent increase in nuclear generation to 54.5 TWh of electricity.

BE was one of several major acquisitions made by the EDF group last year. EDF’s results are available in full in English and French on the group’s website.