British Energy is seen as central to the strategic reshaping of Britain’s nuclear industry it was inferred today. As expected, the Government announced it would be cutting its stake in British Energy from 64% to 39%, but what was not foreseen, was the Governments commitment to retain a minimum 29.9% stake going forward thus enabling it to block potential takeovers. The sell-off is expected to raise around £2.2bn at current share prices and the monies raised will go into the pot being used to fund nuclear decommissioning.

The announcement came shortly after British Energy revealed its full year results with revenue at £3bn, up 16% despite a year of unplanned outages causing a 15% loss of output against the previous year. Given the Government's commitment to nuclear and high carbon prices, there are sure to be plenty of willing investors.