Centrica has issued a profit warning,blaming a rangeof factors including warm weather which reduced sales of gas and electricity in the UK and problems with its nuclear power stations.
“Full year adjusted earnings per share in 2014 are now expected to be in the range 19-20p, compared to a range of 21-22p at the time of our interim (half year) results,” it said.
Centrica said it expects profits to grow again in 2015 – with improvements in a variety of its businesses including home services – but it also warned that these advances “may be significantly offset” by the impact of lower oil and gas prices in its upstream wholesale operation.
The management update from the UK’s largest provider of domestic power represents a downbeat “goodbye” from Sam Laidlaw, the longstanding chief executive.
It also represents an immediate challenge for Ian Conn, the former BP director, who takes over as boss of Centrica on 1 January.
One of the key difficulties has been caused by the two nuclear power stations, Heysham 1 and Hartlepool.
These plants, co-owned with EDF Energy, have had to be taken off line while inspections take place after cracks were found in a boiler. They are expected to return to service soon but could have to work at reduced power.
Centrica also said that warm weather had pushed down average residential gas consumptionby 21% lower in the first 10 months of 2014 compared with the same time last year. Electricity consumption is down 7%.
Centrica admitted that the number of residential energy accounts on supply has continued to fall since June. They are down 50,000 to 15 million.
But the company also said that there had been a bounceback to growth in recent weeks.
Despite the problems, Centrica has completed a £420m share buyback programme and said it expected to deliver real dividend growth this year. Centrica shares were down slightly in early trading on Thursday.
