Sixteen out of 20 selected European utilities and power producers posted positive stock returns in October, with four companies recording negative returns, according to an S&P Global Market Intelligence analysis.

Posting the biggest gain was German utility EnBW Energie Baden-Württemberg AG with a 12.3% return in October. On Oct. 17, a German government spokesperson said it would create the legal framework allowing the country's remaining three nuclear reactors to run beyond their current Dec. 31 closure dates.

France's Engie SA followed with an 11.1% increase. The company announced that its Engie North America Inc. subsidiary has acquired a 6-GW solar and battery storage portfolio in the U.S. from Belltown Power Ltd. unit Belltown Power U.S.

British utility Centrica PLC logged a positive return of 9.7% for October. Centrica subsidiary British Gas Trading Ltd. entered into an agreement to purchase UGI Corp.'s U.K. energy marketing business AvantiGas On Ltd. for an undisclosed amount.

Spanish utilities Endesa SA and Naturgy Energy Group SA also posted positive returns for the month, with gains of 9.5% and 9.4%, respectively.

Other European utilities that saw positive stock returns in October included Germany's E.ON SE, Italy's Terna - Rete Elettrica Nazionale SpA, Spanish utility Iberdrola SA, Italian electric and gas operator Enel SpA, Spanish transmission operator Red Eléctrica Corporación SA and Finland's state-owned utility Fortum Oyj.

Among the bottom-performing European utilities, Uniper SE recorded a negative stock return for the fifth straight month, at 22.4%, in October. The German company expects to post a net loss for the first nine months of the year as Russian natural gas supplies stop, with more losses projected in the coming quarters.

Elsewhere, Austria's Verbund AG saw a negative stock return of 9.4%, and the Czech Republic's CEZ a. s. posted a 5.8% negative return in October.

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