LONDON (AP) — Scottish & Southern Energy PLC, Britain's second-largest energy supplier, said yesterday that profit for the first half of its financial year plunged 78 percent as higher wholesale gas and electricity costs crunched profit margins and some of its power stations stopped production because of upgrade delays.

Net profit for the six months ending Sept. 30 was £128 million ($197 million), down from £586 million a year earlier, the company said.

However, revenue rose 64 percent to £9.2 billion ($14.2 billion), as Scottish & Southern raised energy prices for its customers to try to offset the increase in the wholesale prices it was paying. "We have had to deal with very high wholesale prices for electricity and gas while trying to shield our customers from the worst of their effects," said chairman Lord Smith of Kelvin, adding that he was optimistic that the company's results would be better in the next half because wholesale energy prices have now come down.

While poor, the results were at the better end of market expectations and shares rose 2.6 percent to 1,174 pence ($18.06) in early trading on the London Stock Exchange.