Strong international sales and the acquisition of British Energy helped EDF, the world’s largest nuclear operator, report better-than-expected results for the first half of 2009 on Thursday.

The French state-owned electricity group saw its shares jump more than 5 per cent in Thursday morning trade after it said net profit had stayed flat at €3.2bn ($4.5bn), beating consensus forecasts for a drop in profit to €2.7bn. The group confirmed its outlook for unchanged net profit in 2009 compared to the previous year, and for “moderate” sales growth.