Centrica 2018 Pretax Profit Rose; Sells Clockwork for $300 Million

   By Adria Calatayud 
 

British Gas owner Centrica PLC (CNA.LN) said Thursday that pretax profit rose sharply in 2018, and it has agreed to sell its Clockwork home-services business to Apax Partners-backed Authority Brands for $300 million.

The FTSE 100-listed utilities company said it made a pretax profit of 575 million pounds ($750.5 million) in 2018 compared with GBP137 million a year earlier. In 2017, the company's profit fell sharply due to exceptional charges.

Excluding exceptional items and remeasurements, adjusted earnings per share fell 10% to 11.2 pence as the company faced a higher adjusted tax rate, Centrica said. In November, the company said it expected an adjusted EPS of around 11.5 pence.

Adjusted operating profit rose 12% to GBP1.39 billion, helped by higher commodity prices and strong gas production, although the company said volumes at Spirit Energy--part of its exploration and production division--and nuclear operations were disappointing.

Centrica's revenue increased to GBP29.69 billion last year from GBP28.04 billion in 2017, it said.

The company said it is targeting GBP500 million of noncore divestments in 2019, including the sale of Clockwork, and a further efficiency savings of GBP250 million. Capital reinvestment for this year is expected to be GBP1 billion, Centrica said.

The board declared a full-year dividend of 12.0 pence a share, in line with its target and with last year's.

Write to Adria Calatayud at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

February 21, 2019 02:56 ET (07:56 GMT)

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