Frankfurt - Shares in Europe's biggest utility, E. ON AG, bounded ahead Wednesday after the group raised its full-year profit forecast and posted a surge in third-quarter earnings.

Dusseldorf-based E. ON said adjusted net earnings will slide by between 3 and 5 per cent. However, this compares with a previous forecast of a 5-to-10 per-cent drop.

"The main drivers were the company's foresighted hedging strategy, the successes it has achieved in its ongoing efficiency-enhancement programme, and the first earnings effects from its growth investments of the past two year," E. ON said releasing the results.

E. ON also said it expects its full-year 2009 adjusted EBIT (core earnings before interest and taxes) to come in at last year's level of 9.878 billion euros (15 billion dollars).

At the same time, the group said third quarter net profit surged to 1.8 billion euros from 100 million euros in the same period in 2008.

However, the world recession resulted in sales in the three months to the end of September falling by 13 per cent.

Nevertheless, the company's stock rose 2.5 per cent to 27.60 euros following the release of the results.

In the first nine months of the year, adjusted after-tax profit increased almost 1 per cent to 4.49 billion euros, the company said.

E. ON's announcement came just one day after it said it was selling off its long-distance German electricity network to the Dutch state- owned power group Tennet for 1.1 billion euros. (dpa)