Any thoughts on the company?


Red line 200 MA

24 Mar 2015 "Deutsche Bank cuts Centrica to 'sell' from 'hold', target cut from 280p to 225p"

..Questor share tip: Centrica a buy for income and growth

By Garry White | Telegraph – 8 minutes ago

The last trading update from British Gas owner Centrica (LSE: CNA.L - news) was confident. Questor says buy.

Centrica 315.2p Questor says BUY

The shares were named as a tip of 2012 after slumping last year following a profit warning. The shares have outperformed the wider market, rising 8pc compared with the FTSE 100’s 2pc fall.

Questor expects this outperformance to continue, as price cuts earlier this year appear to have eased the political pressure on the sector. Fears of political interference were a significant part of last year’s 13pc share price fall. Higher wholesale power prices also appear to be making up for the mild winter.

Centrica continues to become more “vertically integrated”. This means it is generating more of the energy it sells itself, which protects its profits from swings in commodity prices.

On Friday, Centrica reached a milestone in its Lincolnshire 270-megawatt offshore windfarm project,

by completing financing of £425m for its construction. Centrica has a 50pc interest in the project, with the rest shared between Siemens (BSE: SIEMENS.BO - news) and Dong Energy (NYSEArca: JJE - news) .

An exploration partnership with Norway’s Statoil (Other OTC: STOHF.PK - news) to look for oil in the UK and Norwegian North Sea has also been extended until June 2013.

After last year’s falls, Centrica shares are yielding a very attractive 5.3pc, rising to 5.7pc. The cash-generative nature of the business means this looks secure and it is covered by earnings 1.7 times.

The valuation is also cheap by historical standards, with the current earnings multiple being 11.747, falling to 10.6.

Centrica’s next update will be its interim results on July 26, and the shares are a buy for both income and growth ahead of those figures

Earlier spike down bounced from 200 day ma.

200ma moving up steadily now and the sp pushing its head that little bit higher today. Hopefully the start of a new uptrend.
...Interim's on the 26th

CENTRICA ACQUIRES NEW YORK-BASED ENERGY RETAILERS

Centrica plc’s North American subsidiary, Direct Energy, has agreed to acquire the New York-based energy retailers Energetix, Inc. (Energetix) and NYSEG Solutions, Inc. (NYSEG) for US$110 million (£71 million) in cash, plus additional working capital.

The companies are both subsidiaries of Iberdrola USA and operate as a single retail organisation, marketing under the Energetix and NYSEG Solutions brands. These brands are well recognised in New York State and Pennsylvania where they have 245,000 residential and small commercial customer accounts.

The market must like the acquisition a little. sp showing a small gain on a FTSE down day.

Its finding 322/323 a bridge too far atm.

You are so right skinny, it had a go at 323 this morning but too much selling pressure to hold it.

edit......Having another go, will it hold this time?

I reckon it needs to clear and hold above 325 to break out of this resistance area.

Decisions decisions.....

Half-yearly Report

OPERATING AND FINANCIAL OVERVIEW

STRONG FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE

Adjusted earnings2 up 14% to £767 million; 14.8 pence adjusted basic earnings per share2

Upstream production benefiting from new investments and Norwegian expansion

Higher UK residential energy consumption, compared to the exceptionally mild weather and unusually low levels of profitability1 in the first half last year
Benefiting from enhanced scale in North America

On track to achieve £500 million cost reduction programme to maintain competitiveness

Tax charge3 of £568 million; UK tax charge3 of £431 million

INVESTING FOR GROWTH

Total investment of £1.5 billion in the first six months of 2012

Further progress in gas development projects, to bring 140mmboe of reserves into production

Moving ahead with £1.4 billion Cygnus development; largest gas discovery in the Southern North Sea for 25 years, supporting 4,000 new jobs

First power from £1 billion Lincs wind farm in the coming weeks, able to supply around 200,000 homes

Awarded planning consent for 580MW Race Bank wind farm; progressing towards a final investment decision in the first quarter of 2013

DELIVERING FOR CUSTOMERS

Launched easy to understand bill and simplified tariff structure

Maintained position as cheapest major standard electricity supplier at average consumption

British Gas residential energy accounts stable at 15.8 million, reflecting good service

Industry leadership in innovation, energy efficiency and support for the vulnerable

DELIVERING FOR OUR SHAREHOLDERS

Interim dividend up 8% to 4.62 pence per share, 30% of prior year’s dividend in line with established practice

“Centrica has performed well in the first half of 2012 despite challenging market conditions, although the increase in earnings must be placed in the context of unusually low levels of consumption and profits in the UK in the first half of 2011. We continue to focus on high standards of service, while ensuring that we run the business as efficiently as possible for the benefit of our customers. We have made significant investments to secure energy supplies for the UK – and will continue to invest across the Group, where we see value. As a result, we have a stronger business that is delivering benefits for all our stakeholders.”

(post 363) back at the 322/323 level again!!

Up through 323 and the next resistance 340.
Centrica is looking stronger after the results.

I will edit that last sentence to 'was looking stronger!'

Credit Suisse downgrades to Neutral TP reduced from 370p to 330p.

Morgan Stanley reiterates it's Equal weight TP 325p

skinny, thanks for the posts but these downgrades are to me meaningless unless supported by facts and reasoning....something the analysts rarely include in their downgrades/upgrades.

True to an extent Optomistic, but what it does tell us is why the SP has moved in any given share sometimes, so in that way I think it can be helpful.

Fair performance today regardless of the analysts
Ups and downs there are sure to be but IMO Centrica is a good one to hold for the future and a good yield included.

I've just seen this :-

UK may give Hinkley Point nuclear OK by year-end


LONDON | Tue Aug 14, 2012 4:38pm BST

(Reuters) - Britain's nuclear regulator said it may resolve all its issues regarding plans for a new nuclear power plant at Hinkley Point C by the end of the year.

The Office of Nuclear Regulation said on Tuesday that two Generic Design Assessment (GDA) issues had been closed. The regulator had raised them earlier this year with French energy companies EDF and Areva with regards to the design of a third-generation nuclear reactor at Hinkley Point Somerset, England.

OP target 362p within 3 months

but BARCS could be a better bet 188p taget 380p by april.

Agreed, Barcs should have been 240 if it was not hit too hard by the misleading news. 188 is too cheap for today, never mind year end - 300 IMO.