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"

Half-year Report

IAIN CONN, GROUP CHIEF EXECUTIVE

“In a first half in which we experienced rapidly rising commodity prices, extreme weather patterns, continued competitive pressures and ongoing political and regulatory uncertainty, Centrica demonstrated resilience from its portfolio of businesses. We delivered stable gross margin and EBITDA relative to 2017, and adjusted operating cash flow of £1.1bn. We are on track to achieve our full year Group financial targets and expect to maintain the full year dividend per share at its current level, subject to delivering adjusted operating cash flow and net debt in line with our target ranges.

We continue to make progress on implementing our strategy. We have developed new propositions and delivery capabilities in both customer divisions and our cost efficiency programme is on track. Although we are awaiting the final outcome of regulation to impose a temporary cap on all default tariffs for residential customers in the UK, we have plans in place to manage this. Our focus remains on performance delivery and financial discipline.”

H1 PERFORMANCE AND FULL YEAR OUTLOOK

Stable adjusted gross margin and EBITDA relative to H1 2017. Adjusted operating cash flow of £1.1bn, down 11%, including impact of working capital outflows due to cold weather and wholesale commodity price increases.
Full year adjusted operating cash flow currently expected to be higher than 2017, within the targeted £2.1-£2.3bn range, and net debt expected to be within the targeted £2.5-£3bn range for 2018.
Full year dividend per share expected to be maintained at 12.0p, subject to delivering adjusted operating cash flow and net debt in line with our target ranges.
H1 2018 adjusted operating profit down 4%. Profit recovery in E&P from higher commodity prices and Rough field production, largely offsetting lower profit in the customer-facing divisions.
H1 2018 adjusted EPS down 22% to 6.4p, impacted by a higher adjusted effective tax rate of 39%.
Centrica Consumer adjusted operating profit down 20%. Rising wholesale energy costs have put pressure on UK energy supply margins, and extreme cold weather resulted in additional costs in UK services. Consumer account holdings down 1% in H1 2018, but rate of losses slowed compared to 2017. UK services accounts stable.
Centrica Business adjusted operating profit down 57%. Strong underlying performance in EM&T but losses as expected from legacy gas contracts reduced overall EM&T profit. Good recovery in UK Business vs H2 2017 and strong order-book growth in DE&P. Continued weakness in North America Business power retail book as previously signalled. North America Business forward book higher for 2019.
Awaiting final regulations imposing a temporary default tariff cap in the UK. Continue to engage constructively while implementing mitigating actions.
PROGRESS ON IMPLEMENTING THE STRATEGY

Resilience from Centrica’s diverse portfolio of businesses. Focus on performance delivery and financial discipline.
Demonstrating new sources of gross margin growth. Improved customer segmentation, enhanced propositions, focus on customer lifetime value. Connected Home gross revenue up 31% and DE&P order book up 47% compared to H1 2017.
Continued strong cost efficiency delivery with £92m of efficiencies delivered in H1 2018. On track to deliver £200m of savings for the full year, taking cumulative annual savings relative to 2015 to around £900m.
Spirit Energy successfully established, providing cash flow diversity and balance sheet strength for the Group.

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Credit Suisse Outperform 143.00 185.00 - Reiterates

Poor results from SSE today have a possible read across to CNA's imminent results.
Hot summer, little wind and high bulk gas prices etc..........

Next scheduled news...trading update the same day as the interim divi is paid...22 Nov

Goldman Sachs Buy 149.03 174.00 176.00 Upgrades

JP Morgan Cazenove Overweight 148.80 180.00 200.00 Reiterates

Cyclicals becoming unfashionable, defensives becoming attractive.
CNE might be a good investment if the market is starting a prolonged downturn.

JP Morgan Cazenove Overweight 147.70 180.00 200.00 Reiterates

Energy deals rise 21% in just five months

"The average price for the best energy deal has risen by 21% in only the last five months. British Gas could now be the second cheapest fixed rate tariff for you."

Directorate change

Board Announcement

Centrica appoints a new Non-Executive Director and Chairman Designate

Centrica announces the appointment of Charles Berry as a Director and Chairman designate. Charles will join the Board of Centrica on the 31st October 2018 as a Non-Executive Director and will become Chairman on the 21st February 2019. Charles succeeds Rick Haythornthwaite who announced in May 2018 his intention to step down during the course of the next 12 months, after serving approximately six years. Rick Haythornthwaite will step down on 20th February 2019.

Charles Berry is Chairman of The Weir Group PLC, the international engineering group and has previously held Chairman roles including Senior Plc, Drax Group plc, EAGA plc and Thus Group plc. Previously Charles held executive roles at Scottish Power plc, responsible for power generation, commodity trading, energy retailing and renewable energy in the UK together with board responsibility for energy regulation, and prior to that at Pilkington plc where he held a number of roles and started his career as an engineer.


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Low returns put lid on new British gas storage sites, operators say

Trading Statement

Centrica expects to achieve 2018 Group targets despite upstream operational impacts

Centrica has maintained its focus on performance delivery and financial discipline, and despite the unexpected outages and operational issues in E&P and extended inspections and outages in Nuclear outlined below, and ongoing competitive trading conditions, the Company continues to expect to achieve its Group targets for 2018 as set out in the Preliminary Results in February.

Good progress is being made on introducing new propositions for customers, on delivering further cost efficiencies and in re-positioning the UK Home energy supply business in advance of the introduction of a default tariff price cap.

For the 2018 full year the Company expects:

· Adjusted operating cash flow in the £2.1-£2.3bn range.

· Net debt within the £2.5-£3.0bn range.

· In-year efficiency delivery of over £200m.

· To maintain the full year dividend per share at 12.0p, consistent with the targets of delivering £2.1-£2.3bn per annum on average of adjusted operating cash flow and net debt in the £2.25-£3.25bn range over the period 2018-20 as outlined in February.

· Adjusted operating profit and EBITDA to be above 2017 levels.

· Full year adjusted earnings per share of around 11.5p, with a Group adjusted effective tax rate of around 40% reflecting a changed profit mix.

Iain Conn, Centrica Group Chief Executive

"As we have done over the last four years, we are focused on driving significant underlying improvements in performance and delivering attractive returns while re-positioning the portfolio towards the customer. Our efficiency delivery and new customer propositions are helping to offset the effects of strong competition and regulation in energy supply. Our financial performance has remained resilient despite weaker than planned volumes from our E&P and Nuclear activities and cash generation remains strong. Maintaining a focus on performance delivery and financial discipline and demonstrating resilient cash flows remain our objectives for 2019 and beyond, as we deal with the impact of the UK energy supply default tariff cap."

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JP Morgan Cazenove Overweight 130.50 200.00 190.00 Reiterates

Finals https://www.moneyam.com/action/news/showArticle?id=6320631