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Centrica

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A tale of falling profits, prickly customers and hostile politicians

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R.C.

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ON FEBRUARY 19th, Centrica, the owner of British Gas—one of Britain’s “big six” energy providers along with EDF Energy, E.ON, npower, Scottish Power and SSE—reported a big fall in profits. It has also cut its full-year dividend. The company blames this poor result mainly on the warmest weather on record in Britain last year, which has reduced demand from households for heating. The falling price of oil has also played its part. And all this comes against a background of growing political uncertainty in the run-up to Britain's general election, in which the energy sector has become something of a political punch-bag.
The firm has certainly seen better days. Centrica's full-year operating profits fell by 35% to £1.75 billion (.7 billion), and earnings at British Gas’s residential business, the part most affected by …<div class="og_rss_groups"></div>
Source: Utilities
Centrica: Feeling the heat

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Ocado's results

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The online grocer has announced its first-ever profit. But there are plenty of risks ahead

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R.C.

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IT WAS a long time coming, and much overdue. But on February 3rd Ocado, the world’s largest online-only grocer, announced that it has finally made a full-year profit, its first since the British-based firm was founded in 2000. The result was pretty much in line with analysts’ expectations, so the share price did not soar. But the news was welcome nonetheless in the British grocery business, a sector that has mostly been producing profit warnings, job cuts and store closures over the past year or so.
In 2014 Ocado made a pre-tax profit of £7.2m (.9m) on revenues of £948.9m. By contrast the company had lost £12.5m the previous year. To move into the black, says Tim Steiner, the chief executive and co-founder, the company has exploited the only channel that has seen any overall …

Source: Retailing
Ocado's results: Finally in the money