Colder weather boosts Centrica in first quarter April 27, 2015 UTILITIES group Centrica delivered a more positive update to the market yesterday, following a profit warning and dividend cut announced along with its 2014 results in February, and said trading continues in line with previous guidance. The company said colder-than-usual weather in the UK and across North America in the year to date had led [...]
BG shares to trade for the last time tomorrow ahead of merger with Shell February 11, 2016 BG Group shares will trade on the London Stock Exchange for the last time tomorrow, marking an end to the company's 19-year history. It was created when British Gas was split into two separately-listed companies – BG and Centrica – in 1997. BG today said that the High Court of Justice in England and Wales has given [...]
Competition and Markets Authority sets out its plans to increase competition in the energy markets, sending Centrica and SSE share prices down July 7, 2015 Shares in energy providers dipped in early trading, after the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) outlined a raft of measures aimed at increasing competition in the energy market. Shares in SSE fell 0.5 per cent to 1,566p while London-listed Centrica shares dropped 0.6 per cent to 265.9p, after a wide-ranging report attacked the UK's "Big [...]
Centrica names new British Gas chief executive April 14, 2015 Centrica has named the new chief executive of its British Gas arm: former Aviva boss Mark Hodges will take over at the beginning of June. At a time when energy companies – particularly former state-owned ones – are at the centre of a political football game, few in the industry will envy Hodges' new role. [...]
UK to get more gas from a Russian firm as Centrica extends deals with Gazprom May 13, 2015 The UK's dependency on gas from Russian firms just increased, after Centrica signed a deal with state energy giant Gazprom – as well as Norwegian rival Statoil – to ramp up the amount of gas it buys from the companies. Centrica, which owns British Gas, said it had extended its contracts with Statoil and Gazprom [...]
Npower becomes latest “big six” energy supplier to slash gas bills after announcing 5.2 per cent cut February 8, 2016 Npower has become the latest "big six" energy supplier to whittle down customers' gas bills, amid mounting calls for firms to pass on record low wholesale gas prices to their customers. It comes after similar cuts from rivals E.ON, SSE and Scottish Power in recent weeks, on the back of falling wholesale gas prices. Npower said that it [...]
Brace yourself, bosses: Leading investor reveals it shot down resolutions at almost one in five AGMs last year April 25, 2016 As companies such as Shire and AstraZeneca brace themselves for a rocky AGM season, one major asset manager has today revealed that it has been voting no for some time now. Legal & General Investment Management (LGIM), which held assets worth over £750bn at the end of 2015, has revealed that it shot down at least one resolution at [...]
A family affair: How Ben and Ollie Black built their childcare empire June 6, 2016 Two minutes with the Black brothers and Laurel and Hardy come up. “You know, ‘another fine mess you’ve got me into’,” says Oliver Black, describing how he initially conceived of working with his brother. “I spent Christmas trying to convince Ollie that I knew about buying a company,” says Ben Black. The pair bought failing childcare [...]
Gazprom boss Viktor Zubkov warns EU of impending gas crisis due to Brussels policy January 20, 2016 Energy giant Gazprom today warned the European Union that its energy markets could be plunged into crisis unless Brussels revises its “contradictory” energy prices. Energy companies have been forced to make deep cost cuts in order to weather the global commodity price rout which started around 18 months ago. Speaking at a conference in Vienna, [...]
Its share price might be on a downward slope, but here are six reasons this Old Mutual spinoff might just work March 11, 2016 Shares in FTSE 100 insurance group Old Mutual have fallen after it unveiled plans this morning to split into four separate companies – suggesting investors are less than impressed at its plans Fear not, though. There could be good reason to be optimistic about this conscious uncoupling, if past precedent is anything to go by. “The [...]