AGM Statement

Centrica PLC
12 May 2003

                                  CENTRICA AGM

             Overall performance in 2003 in line with expectations

                         Good progress towards targets





Chairman of Centrica plc, Sir Michael Perry, told shareholders attending the
Annual General Meeting that 2002 had been an outstanding year and progress had
continued towards realising the company's vision and potential.

Speaking at Birmingham's International Convention Centre, Sir Michael also took
the opportunity to comment on the current review of corporate governance. Whilst
welcoming much of what has been proposed he warned against too much prescription
which could lead to inappropriate decisions being made by companies to the
detriment of their shareholders.

Turning to 2003, Chief Executive Sir Roy Gardner told shareholders that overall
performance had been in line with expectations. He said good progress was being
made towards the Group's 2003 targets. In particular, he made the following
observations:-

  • The core UK energy business continues to display underlying strength:
  • Upstream, further progress has been made towards Centrica's aim of
    sourcing around 25% of energy requirements from own supplies. Further power
    generation has been acquired and work has continued in developing the
    Group's upstream gas assets. Although the first four months of the year have
    been unusually warm, the Group's balanced portfolio has enabled it to
    optimise its energy procurement during this period, helping offset the
    impact of the milder weather on gas consumption.
  • Downstream, the company has added, net, some 200,000 energy customers in
    the year to date. Two new milestones were announced: four million customers
    have now chosen to return to British Gas, helping maintain its residential
    gas market share at around 64%; it now has a total of six million
    residential electricity customers on supply, increasing market share to 23%.
    The outlook is for improved margins as a result of the increase in retail
    gas and electricity prices, underpinned by cost efficiencies arising from
    British Gas' strategic transformation programme.
  • Organic growth has continued in Centrica Business Services and integration
    of Enron Direct and Electricity Direct is continuing.
  • One.Tel is on track to achieve its profit target in 2003.
  • Sales of new products under the Goldfish brand have been very encouraging.
    However, in the light of the significant changes in the financial services
    market since the Goldfish card was originally launched, the company is
    continuing to review its plans for this business. The immediate target for
    Goldfish is cash breakeven by the end of the year. If this is not achieved,
    the company will consider how best to create most value for shareholders.
  • In North America there has been encouraging progress in delivering value
    from investments already made. Centrica's latest acquisition, in Texas, is
    performing strongly. Overall, the business is on track to double profits
    from North America in 2003.

In conclusion, Sir Roy said Centrica remained focussed on creating value for
shareholders through deepening relationships with customers. 'While we will
continue to make selective investments where there are good value creation
opportunities,' he said, 'we've now moved into a phase in which we're focussing
on delivering value from our existing businesses and from the investments we've
already made.'

Sir Roy also told shareholders that the company planned to increase its dividend
payout ratio.

Centrica will report its 2003 interim results on 31 July 2003.


                      This information is provided by RNS
            The company news service from the London Stock Exchange