RWE Surges After Profit Boost from UK Data Centre Sale

Germany’s largest power producer, RWE, has reported higher-than-expected profit for the first nine months of the year, sending its shares up to their highest level since April 2011.

The company, which is also the world’s second-biggest offshore wind developer, said its nine-month adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) fell by 13% to €3.48 billion ($4.06 billion). Despite the decline, results beat the €3.14 billion forecast in a company poll.

The stronger result was mainly driven by a €225 million ($262 million) book gain from the sale of a data centre project in the UK. The facility, built on the site of a former coal-fired power plant, was sold to a large cloud service provider, part of the growing class of tech giants known as hyperscalers.

These hyperscalers — companies like Amazon, Microsoft, Meta, and Google — are rapidly expanding global data infrastructure to power artificial intelligence systems, which demand massive energy capacity.

RWE did not disclose the buyer’s name but confirmed that although the funds were received in October, the transaction was reflected in its nine-month figures.

Investors welcomed the news, pushing RWE shares up as much as 4.6%, before settling around 3.3% higher in afternoon trade. Analysts said the move aligns with a broader trend of AI-driven energy investments, as tech companies race to secure renewable and reliable power sources for data-heavy operations.

With global AI expansion driving electricity demand higher, energy majors like RWE are finding new growth opportunities — not in fossil fuels, but in powering the digital future.