The company – which is a major investor in renewables via its Innogy unit – said it will cut about 6,500 more jobs in the 2014-16 period and reduce investments.

Earlier this month it emerged that the number of staff at Innogy would halve from its current level of about 1,500 – partly by shifting them to other divisions of RWE – by 2016 and the group would slow its renewables expansion plans.

The