After seeing more than £1 billion wiped from British Energy’s market value since May, the City was looking for reassurance from the group today.

Unfortunately, despite the best efforts of Bill Coley, the chief executive, British Energy's first-quarter results will do little to quell the uncertainty that continues to dog the stock.

Granted, the problems caused by the cracked boiler pipes at Hinkley Point B and Hunterston B have been well documented and the fall in profits was expected.

But unlike last year, the group gave no firm forecast for full-year output from its fleet of power stations, providing only a graph that showed it hoped to hit City expectations of an average 54 per terawatt hour.

Analysts took the hint and the shares tumbled.

Credit Suisse downgraded its predicted output by 2.7 per cent and this alone was enough to knock 5p off the broker’s price target for the stock.

The group still looks set to play a key role in building the next generation of nuclear power plants, but since inviting companies to knock on the door with joint venture suggestions this year, there is no sign of a long queue.

Since the Government’s stake sale in June, British Energy has been one of the worst-performing utilities among its European peers, dropping 15 per cent.

There is little to suggest that any power surge is around the corner.

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