EDF slides as finance chief Thomas Piquemal quits over Hinkley Point

EDF shares slumped after the French energy giant confirmed its finance chief had resigned over the decision to push ahead with the Hinkley Point nuclear power station.

Thomas Piquemal’s resignation sent shares in the French state-backed utility firm tumbling 8% on the Paris bourse.

Piquemal believes the £18 billion project to build a reactor in Somerset could threaten the financial stability of the company.

The British government has guaranteed EDF — which will pay two-thirds of the project’s cost — and its Chinese partner an electricity price of £92.50 per megawatt hour, around twice the current wholesale power price, for 35 years.

However the company would need to take on more debt to afford the massive investment that building the reactor requires.

Ratings agency Standard & Poor’s recently said that a decision to proceed with the project could prompt a downgrade for EDF.

Union members among EDF workers are opposed to the British project.