Shares of British gas owner Centrica PLC (LON: CNA) surged 6.39% after releasing the preliminary results for the financial year ended 31 December 2022. The company generated revenues worth £3.508 billion, excluding the disposal of Spirit Energy assets, marking a significant improvement to the £1.047 billion generated in 2021.
YOUR CAPITAL IS AT RISK. 76% OF RETAIL CFD ACCOUNTS LOSE MONEY.
The gas and electricity company also highlighted some of its achievements during the period, such as investing £75 million to support some of its struggling customers with their energy bill, which was much higher than the £8 post-tax profit earned by the company per customer.
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YOUR CAPITAL IS AT RISK. 76% OF RETAIL CFD ACCOUNTS LOSE MONEY
Investors muted reaction to the report could be attributed to the statutory loss made by the British Gas owner despite its impressive revenues. The firm paid about £1 billion in taxes for the year and supported about 650,000 customers with their energy bills.
Centrica also invested £200 million in upgrading its customer service, support and pricing to cushion consumers. As a result, the company made a statutory loss of 13.3p per share compared to a profit of 20.7p per share in 2021. The loss was primarily triggered by a £2.4 billion loss related to hedging activities as gas and power prices fell towards the end of 2022.
Still, the company generated free cash flows of £2.5 billion, representing a significant improvement to the £1.2 billion recorded in 2021. The higher free cash flows were driven by massive cash inflows such as a £1.1bn inflow in British Gas Energy from government support schemes and a £1.6bn cash build from EM&T and Centrica Storage.
Some of Centrica’s operational highlights included its significant contribution to stabilising the UK energy supply by reopening Rough and signing a new gas supply agreement with Equinor to provide heating for 4.5 million homes.
Chris O'Shea, Centrica’s Group CEO, said:
“Our performance in 2022 demonstrates the benefits of our balanced portfolio and our strong balance sheet. The energy crisis and cost of living pressures have created a challenging environment for customers and communities, but we have been able to provide much-needed stability and support”
*This is not investment advice.
The Centrica share price surged 6.39% to trade at 104.55p, from Wednesday’s closing price of 98.27p.
YOUR CAPITAL IS AT RISK. 76% OF RETAIL CFD ACCOUNTS LOSE MONEY.
