Would you say yes to Oink Energy’s Peppa Pig-ish porcine power? September 15, 2014 It’s fair to say energy companies are still not at the top of the public’s Christmas card lists – and this morning, a new energy company has trotted on to the scene to give us all something to think about. Would we rather get their energy bills from Centrica’s Sammy “two pools” Laidlaw or Peppa [...]
Centrica sells power plants in US for £420m December 18, 2013 ENERGY firm Centrica hit the top of the FTSE 100 yesterday morning, after it agreed to sell its Texas gas-fired power stations to asset manager Blackstone for $685m (£420m) and return the proceeds to shareholders via a share buyback next year. “Residential retail supply is key to our North American business, and with sufficient generation [...]
Record order book at £3.2bn cheers Costain August 21, 2014 COSTAIN group, the major UK construction and engineering group, announced yesterday it had achieved a record order book and solid growth in underlying profits, as it shifted its focus with more major contracts in the rail and oil and gas sectors. The forward order book for the company zoomed up to £3.2bn in the first [...]
Analyst Views: What does Nick Luff’s move mean for Centrica and Reed Elsevier? January 7, 2014 JOHN MUSK | RBC CAPITAL MARKETSNick Luff is widely regarded as one of the best finance chiefs in the European utility sector. He has been responsible for the transformation of Centrica from an asset light and inefficient energy supplier to a more balanced entity. We see Nick Luff’s departure as a slight negative for Centrica. [...]
EDF Energy nuclear reactors may be out until end of year fuelling winter blackout fears September 4, 2014 Fears of power blackouts in the UK this winter due to possible shortages in energy supply were heightened yesterday, after major energy supplier EDF revealed four reactors at its nuclear power plants might not come back online until the end of the year. The UK subsidiary of the large French energy company said four nuclear [...]
Centrica holds onto customers but not profit November 14, 2013 As anticipated, energy supplier Centrica expects full-year profit for British Gas to be significantly lower than last year, as it says this morning that we are in "unprecedented times for the energy sector" and market conditions "remain challenging". It residential energy supply margin will also be hit and is expected to be "slightly lower than [...]
British Gas boss Weston hired as Aggreko chief May 29, 2014 CENTRICA yesterday confirmed that the head of its supply arm British Gas will be leaving to join Aggreko, meaning that it now has to find replacements for its top three executives. The FTSE 100-listed energy giant said that Chris Weston has tendered his resignation to become chief executive of Aggreko, the temporary power provider, subject [...]
British Gas to shore up customer service team with 300 new staff July 16, 2014 British Gas, the energy supplier owned by FTSE 100 utility firm Centrica, today said it is hiring an extra 300 staff to bolster its customer service team, as complaints about energy companies soar to their highest level. The new recruits will help customers with “everything from bills and boiler breakdowns, to engineer visits and energy [...]
Maggie’s cancer centre has green light at St Barts July 17, 2014 Plans to build a new cancer care centre at St Bartholomew’s Hospital were passed by the City of London Planning and Transportation Committee yesterday, having received support from City figures such as Sam Laidlaw of Centrica and HSBC’s Stuart Gullliver, with backing from City A.M. Building of the centre, designed by architect Steven Holl and [...]
Ofgem forecasts lower margins at energy firms August 28, 2014 UK ENERGY regulator Ofgem yesterday predicted that profit margins of the large suppliers would be lower over the coming year compared with previous estimates. Only a month ago, the watchdog had forecast that the biggest energy suppliers would double their profit margins over the next year. Ofgem’s latest supply market indicator report saw it cut [...]