In a select group of European utilities and power producers covered by S&P Global Market Intelligence, most companies posted negative stock returns in October, with only eight out of 20 companies posting positive stock returns.

Engie SA recorded the largest negative return of 9.1% within the group in October, as the French utility's decision to put off a potential long-term supply agreement with NextDecade Corp. alarmed industry officials who saw it as a sign that U.S. supplies could suffer from concerns over methane emissions. Also during the month, Engie's board decided to accept an offer from Veolia Environnement SA for its 29.9% stake in Suez SA, appointed an oilfield executive as its new CEO, and reached a deal to sell its stake in newly launched renewable energy platform Australian Renewable Energy Trust.

Italian utility Enel SpA saw its total return fall 7.9% during October. This comes as secured a €1 billion sustainability-linked loan facility, and raised £500 million from an oversubscribed offering of bonds through Enel Finance International NV.

Enel was followed by Centrica PLC, which recorded a negative return of 7.3%, as the British utility received antitrust clearance for the proposed sale of its subsidiary Direct Energy LP to NRG Energy Inc. for $3.63 billion, marking the largest U.S. power deal in the third quarter.

Other companies with negative returns during the month included Uniper SE, Naturgy Energy Group SA and Fortum Oyj, recording declines of 6.9%, 6.8% and 6.5%, respectively.

On the other hand, Denmark's Ørsted A/S posted the largest positive return of 15.9% during the month. This comes as the Danish power company struck a deal to sell its B2B portfolio of natural gas and electric customers in the U.K. to Total Gas & Power Ltd. and expanded its footprint in the Southwest Power Pool by acquiring the 298-MW Haystack Wind Project. On Oct. 28, Ørsted posted an 18% year-over-year drop in third-quarter earnings and warned that it will likely have to push back most of its large-scale offshore wind projects in U.S. waters.

French utility Electricité de France SA recorded a gain of 10.4%, as its subsidiary EDF Renewables North America agreed with Geenex Solar LLC to develop a pipeline of up to 4,500-MWac of solar projects within the PJM Interconnection balancing area. Moreover, EDF increased its 2020 nuclear output in France to between 325 TWh and 335 TWh.

Shares of Verbund AG, SSE PLC and National Grid plc also posted positive returns of 5.8%, 3.9% and 3.3%, respectively, in October.