French utility GDF Suez SA (GSZ.FR) Tuesday confirmed it is acquiring a majority stake in the U.K. independent power company International Power PLC (IPR.LN) as it reported first-half net profit rose 9% and confirmed its forecasts through 2011.

GDF Suez plans to take a 70% stake in International Power, strengthening the Paris-based utility's positions in high-growth emerging markets including Latin America , Asia and the Middle East . GDF Suez plans to fold a number of its own international assets into International Power, with shareholders of the U.K. company also set to receive a cash payment of 92 pence per share via a special dividend, equating to around GBP1.4 billion.

Paris-based GDF Suez, which generates power around the world and supplies customers with natural gas, said net profit rose to EUR3.57 billion in the six months to June 30, from EUR3.26 billion a year earlier, beating an average expectation of EUR3.15 billion from a Dow Jones Newswires poll of six analysts.

Revenue rose slightly to EUR42.35 billion, GDF said, from EUR42.21 billion a year earlier.

First-half earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, or Ebitda, rose 4% to EUR8.2 billion, GDF Suez said. That exceeded the EUR8.01 billion average estimate from the Dow Jones analyst poll.

The company said a cold winter in France , which boosted energy demand, helped its first-half performance. Efficiency savings also contributed.

Still, lower spot prices on the natural gas market have crimped the profits the company had been able to make by shipping cargoes to lucrative markets. GDF Suez said its Global Gas and Liquefied Natural Gas business recorded a 42% fall in first-half Ebitda.

"GDF Suez confirms all the 2010 and 2011 targets that it announced to the market," the company also said in its earnings statement, without repeating them explicitly.

They include a target for a year-on-year rise in 2010 Ebitda, and a 15% jump in Ebitda from 2009 to 2011. The targets assume "average" weather conditions and makes a number of other assumptions on energy prices and the economy.

GDF Suez said that on Nov. 15 it will distribute an interim dividend of EUR0.83 per share for the fiscal year 2010.

At 0823 GMT, shares of GDF Suez traded down 0.8% at EUR26.57 each, against a CAC-40 index down 0.9% overall.
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