By Giulia Petroni 

Electricite de France SA said Friday that 2019 profit jumped as the bond and equity markets performance last year led to a positive change in the fair value of some assets.

The state-controlled French utility company said net profit for 2019 was 5.2 billion euros ($5.65 billion) compared with EUR1.18 billion a year earlier. The company attributed the rise mainly to positive change in fair value of a portfolio of dedicated assets worth EUR3.5 billion.

Sales rose to EUR71.32 billion from EUR68.55 billion the previous year, the company said.

Analysts had forecast net profit of EUR2.67 billion on sales of EUR70.74 billion, according to a consensus compiled by FactSet.

EDF Renewables' sales were up 2.9% on year on an organic basis.

Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization rose to EUR16.71 billion from EUR14.9 billion in 2018 thanks to better price conditions in France and in the U.K., as well as a strong performance in EDF Renewables, the company said.

Looking at 2020, EDF said it expects Ebitda at between EUR17.5 billion and EUR18 billion and total net investments--excluding acquisitions and 2019-2020 disposals--of about EUR15.5 billion a year.

The group said it proposed a dividend of EUR0.48 a share for 2019.

Write to Giulia Petroni at giulia.petroni@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

February 14, 2020 02:29 ET (07:29 GMT)