Centrica share price falls ahead of AGM where Iain Conn’s pay could prompt second shareholder spring
Centrica's share price fell this morning as the energy giant gears up for its AGM, suggesting it could be the next in line for a shareholder spring.
The British Gas parent company said it was making "good progress" against its strategic priorities, saying adjusted operating cash flow is expected to come in above £2bn in 2016.
Centrica said it had already made 800 of its planned 3,000 redundancies during the first three months of the year, and in total expects to save around £200m in 2016. The group is aiming to save £750m a year.
Read more: Round two of the shareholder spring this week?
British Gas has returned to profitability, but the UK arm has lost around 1.5 per cent of its home supply accounts, despite a reduction in the number of complaints. As a result Centrica's share price was down around 2.5 per cent this morning.
The board will today defend chief executive Iain Conn's £3m pay package – a fraction of BP boss Bob Dudley's, which was thrown out by disgruntled shareholders last week. However it is expected to be a hard sell given the statutory loss it chalked up in 2015, with adjusted operating profits falling 12 per cent to £1.5bn over the same time period.
And there is a precedent set for a Centrica investors' revolt: at last year's AGM, the directors' annual remuneration report was voted against by 33.1 per cent of attending shareholders.
In the update this morning, Conn said: “We continue to make good progress in implementing our strategy, and with improving levels of customer service, good operational performance, lower costs, and the launch of new products to help customers manage their energy usage, we remain on track to deliver against our 2016 targets.”