After three profit warnings this year, Centrica's (CNA) full-year numbers are likely to make gloomy reading when they are published next Thursday. The owner of British Gas has been dogged by mild weather and operational problems.
In the most recent profit warning, management revised down their expected full-year earnings per share to 19-20p, from 21-22p expected at the time of the interim results in July. The impact of the mild autumn was compounded by a 4 per cent reduction in nuclear output during the first 10 months of 2014. The group's Hartlepool and Heysham 1 power stations were shut down in August after a crack was discovered in a boiler spine at the latter site.
This year the winter has been much colder, which bodes well for British Gas. But the group may also struggle to cope with falling wholesale gas prices. Under pressure from politicians, it last month announced a 5 per cent gas price cut for British Gas customers from 27 February, even though its upstream division, Centrica Energy, is exposed to the decline in commodity prices.
