Gas bag

30 July 2015 By Olaf Storbeck

The UK utility’s revamp is half-hearted. CEO Iain Conn is right to focus the 14 bln stg giant on trying to please customers. The cost cuts are suitably ambitious. But the plans envisage divesting only half the capital-heavy oil and gas units. Centrica could have been bolder.

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Shares in Britain’s largest utility Centrica lost 2.1 percent to 269.4 pence in morning trading after Chief Executive Iain Conn unveiled the group’s new strategy. The company wants to sell up to 1 billion pounds’ worth of upstream and wind assets by 2017 and reduce net headcount by around 4,000 staff. It plans to put more emphasis on energy supply and services.

The owner of energy supplier British Gas reported a 3 percent fall in first-half adjusted operating profit to 1 billion pounds, meeting expectations.

The group reduced its interim dividend by 30 percent to 3.57 pence, as announced earlier. Centrica said cost cuts including the job losses would save around 750 million pounds a year by 2020.

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