Centrica Slashes Dividend, Exits Oil and Gas as CEO Steps Down

   By Adria Calatayud

British Gas owner Centrica PLC (CNA.LN) said Tuesday that Chief Executive Iain Conn plans to step down next year, as it announced plans to slash its 2019 dividend by 58% and exit oil and gas production.

The FTSE 100-listed utilities company said these actions will complete its transformation into a cost-competitive, customer-facing business. Mr. Conn will remain with the company at least until next year's annual general meeting, Centrica said.

Centrica reported a swing to a pretax loss of 569 million pounds ($704.3 million) for the first half compared with a profit of GBP415 million in the year-earlier period. The company attributed the loss to lower adjusted earnings and remeasurements due to falling gas prices. Centrica posted a net loss of GBP550 million compared with a profit of GBP238 million a year before.

Adjusted earnings attributable to shareholders fell by 63% to GBP134 million, the company said.

Revenue fell to GBP11.57 billion in the first half from GBP12.10 billion a year before, the company said.

Centrica declared an interim dividend of 1.50 pence a share, down from 3.60 pence a share in the first half of 2018. For the full year, the company intends to pay a full-year dividend of 5.0 pence a share compared with 12.0 pence a year earlier.

Centrica backed its full-year guidance and said adjusted earnings will be weighted toward the second half of the year.

Write to Adria Calatayud at adria.calatayudvaello@dowjones.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

July 30, 2019 02:44 ET (06:44 GMT)

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