Centrica 2018 Pretax Profit Rose; Sells Clockwork for $300 Million
February 21 2019 - 2:11AM
Dow Jones News
By Adria Calatayud
British Gas owner Centrica PLC (CNA.LN) said Thursday that
pretax profit rose sharply in 2018, and it has agreed to sell its
Clockwork home-services business to Apax Partners-backed Authority
Brands for $300 million.
The FTSE 100-listed utilities company said it made a pretax
profit of 575 million pounds ($750.5 million) in 2018 compared with
GBP137 million a year earlier. In 2017, the company's profit fell
sharply due to exceptional charges.
Excluding exceptional items and remeasurements, adjusted
earnings per share fell 10% to 11.2 pence as the company faced a
higher adjusted tax rate, Centrica said. In November, the company
said it expected an adjusted EPS of around 11.5 pence.
Adjusted operating profit rose 12% to GBP1.39 billion, helped by
higher commodity prices and strong gas production, although the
company said volumes at Spirit Energy--part of its exploration and
production division--and nuclear operations were disappointing.
Centrica's revenue increased to GBP29.69 billion last year from
GBP28.04 billion in 2017, it said.
The company said it is targeting GBP500 million of noncore
divestments in 2019, including the sale of Clockwork, and a further
efficiency savings of GBP250 million. Capital reinvestment for this
year is expected to be GBP1 billion, Centrica said.
The board declared a full-year dividend of 12.0 pence a share,
in line with its target and with last year's.
Write to Adria Calatayud at
adria.calatayudvaello@dowjones.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
February 21, 2019 02:56 ET (07:56 GMT)
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