Enel first half profits up 28 percent

Italian utility Enel SpA on Friday reported a 28 percent increase in first half profit as income at its newly acquired Spanish unit Endesa offset a drop in electricity sales in its home Italian market.

The Rome-based company said in a statement Friday that first-half net income rose to euro3.52 billion ($4.9 billion), up from euro2.7 billion in the same period a year earlier.

The increase was due mostly to profits at Endesa, which Enel fully acquired during the period.

"The improvement in our first-half results, despite the unfavorable macro-economic context, confirms the soundness of our strategy of geographical and technological diversification," CEO Fulvio Conti said …