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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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.
