Centrica slumps on £550 million loss

FTSE 100 energy and services firm Centrica (LON:CNA) has seen its share price plummet by 16.20% to 76.12p (as 13:10 BST) after adjusted operating profits for the six months ended 30th June dropped 49%. The firm booked a statutory loss of £550 million for the period.

CEO Iain Conn said: “Centrica faced an exceptionally challenging environment in the first half of 2019, which impacted earnings and cash flows. We have also regrettably had to make the decision to rebase the dividend due to our changed circumstances including the UK energy price cap and increased demands on our cash flows, including additional pension contributions. The outlook is more positive for the second half of the year and we expect this momentum to continue into 2020, while we expect to meet our cash flow and net debt targets for 2019.

“Today we have announced our intention to exit oil and gas production. This will complete our shift towards the customer, as we focus on our distinctive strengths, with an emphasis on helping our customers transition to a lower carbon future. This major refocusing of our portfolio will unlock further efficiencies enabling us to be even more cost-competitive, as we focus on being a leading Energy Services and Solutions provider“.