Centrica PLC
14 May 2007
Centrica 2007 AGM Statement
At the Centrica Annual General Meeting to be held today, the Chairman Roger Carr
will update shareholders on the Group's performance in the year-to-date and on
the outlook for the remainder of the year.
Period Review
Centrica has performed well through the early part of 2007 and delivered strong
financial results in the period, with higher profits from downstream businesses
more than offsetting lower upstream contribution.
Our downstream activities have all benefited significantly from unusually low
wholesale prices for gas and power. The industrial and commercial contracts
have been profitable and we have continued to increase the number of British Gas
Business customers. The low wholesale energy prices have enabled us to reduce
prices twice for residential customers. Since the announcement on 8 February of
our initial price cut, around 900,000 customers have chosen to join British Gas,
an average of over 65,000 per week. Recently we have begun to grow our customer
base and currently have 15.8 million energy accounts on supply. We continue to
invest in improving service for residential customers, including recruiting 800
additional front line customer service staff, whilst reducing costs elsewhere in
the business. Given the timing of the price reductions, we expect the results
from the residential business to be weighted heavily towards the first half of
the year.
Profits from upstream gas production in the UK have fallen significantly as a
result of the lower wholesale prices. Gas production in the first four months
of the year was 642 million therms, 48% lower than the same period in 2006. We
have seen a stronger contribution from our power stations, where electricity
generated was up 133% at 5.9 Terawatt hours as our gas-fired stations benefited
from low gas prices, allowing their output to displace that of the more
carbon-intensive stations of other operators.
Our UK services business is on track to deliver a year of strong operating
profit growth, driven by higher customer numbers and improved service levels.
The UK storage business is also performing well, with all capacity for the 2007/
8 storage year now sold, at an average price of 53.4p per Standard Bundled Unit.
Internationally, in North America, our business is trading ahead of last year
with a significant improvement in results in commercial supply and wholesale
energy and a consistent performance from the rest of the energy supply business,
despite increased competition for residential customers in some areas. The
reported result for North America will be impacted by the weakness of the
Canadian and US dollars against sterling. In Europe we have also made an
encouraging start to the year, with continued growth in the customer base in
Belgium and Holland.
Outlook
Overall the outlook for Centrica in all markets is encouraging, although
significant uncertainty remains over wholesale gas and power prices for the
balance of the year and over demand levels due to unusual weather patterns.
However, if wholesale prices turn out in line with current forward market prices
and temperatures are seasonally normal, we would expect to deliver a Group
operating profit above current consensus estimates, due to the significant
out-performance already seen in the first half. In addition, the Group's
earnings will benefit from a lower interest charge due to lower debt and a lower
effective tax rate, currently forecast to be below 40%, as a result of the
significant shift in profits from upstream to downstream.
Centrica is currently scheduling its pre-close statement for 25 June 2007, ahead
of its half year results on 2 August 2007.
Enquiries:
Centrica Investor Relations +44 (0) 1753 494900 ir@centrica.com
Centrica Media Relations +44 (0) 1753 494085 media@centrica.com
This information is provided by RNS
The company news service from the London Stock Exchange
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