UPDATE 1-Iberdrola Q1 net profit jumps 162 pct

(Adds details, shares)

By Joe Ortiz

MADRID, April 17 (Reuters) - Spanish power company Iberdrola (IBE.MC) said on Thursday its first-quarter net profit reached 1.2 billion euros ($1.9 billion), up 162 percent year-on-year thanks to new acquisitions and asset sales.

In advance details of results to be published on April 21, Iberdrola said its core profit (EBITDA) was 65 percent higher in the first quarter than last year, helped by its acquisition last year of Scottish Power and higher capital gains than expected from the sale of non-core assets.

Scottish Power provided 25 percent of Iberdrola's operating profit in the first three months.

Earlier this week, Iberdrola Chairman Ignacio Sanchez Galan told reporters the company's growth was a clear sign that it was being well run and did not need to be merged with any other company.

Iberdrola has been the subject of huge speculation since it emerged earlier this year that French state-owned power group EDF (EDF.PA) had been talking to Iberdrola shareholder ACS (ACS.MC) on a merger deal.

Various permutations have been discussed in the media, but Galan said on Tuesday there was no deal prepared and that 100 billion euros might be a starting point to talk about a deal. Iberdrola's market value is currently about half that.

Under Iberdrola's strategic plan which runs to 2010, the company expects to unload non-core assets worth about 3 billion euros and invest 24.2 billion euros, including the pending purchase of Energy East EAS.N in the United States which will cost 6.4 billion euros including debt. Earlier, Iberdrola said its renewable energy unit Iberdrola Renovables IBR.MC would post a first-quarter net profit bigger than that registered in the whole of last year, when it made 117.5 million euros.

In details from a speech to be given by Galan at the company's annual meeting later on Thursday, Iberdrola Renovables said first-quarter revenue was up nearly 150 percent year-on-year.

Iberdrola shares were 0.3 percent lower at 9.59 euros by 0752 GMT while Renovables rose 1.8 percent to 4.52, the biggest gainer in the Ibex index .IBEX (Editing by Quentin Bryar)