RWE says earnings hit by falling power prices

RWE, Germany's second-biggest power supplier, said Tuesday that its earnings were hit by falling electricity prices last year.

RWE said in a statement that its recurrent net income -- from which the dividend is paid -- fell by 44.6 percent to 1.282 billion euros ($1.38 billion) in 2014.

Underlying or operating profit fell by 9.8 percent to 7.131 billion euros and sales were down 7.5 percent at 48.468 billion euros, the statement said.

RWE said it would propose an unchanged dividend of 1.0 euro per share for 2014.

The "crisis in conventional power generation continues," said chief executive Peter Terium.

"In spite of this, we will focus once more on growth opportunities in the future, but without losing sight of the need for strict financial discipline."

Germany's expansion of renewable energy has dragged down electricity prices, eroding the profitability of groups such as RWE which operate coal, gas and nuclear generation plants.

Looking ahead to the current year, RWE said it expects "a further decline in earnings, despite its continuing efficiency improvements and the effects of its growth measures."

The group was targeting underlying profit of 6.1-6.4 billion euros and recurrent net income in the range of 1.1-1.3 billion euros for the whole of 2015.