British Gas owner Centrica has appointed a former boss of Aviva’s UK operation to run its residential energy business. Mark Hodges becomes managing director of British Gas at a time when the energy market is the subject of a full-scale competition probe. He spent over 20 years with Norwich Union and Aviva before leaving in 2011 to become the boss of specialist insurance broker Towergate Partnership. He left that job in October.
About 100 oil and gas industry contractors are today taking part in what the host, Centrica Energy, has described as a “hackathon” of ideas aimed at reducing the costs for projects that are stuck in the pipeline. The term is more usually used for gatherings of software developers and programmers, where they get together to look at problems and figure out how to solve them. Centrica Energy hopes today’s event in Aberdeen will deliver new ways to approach some of its oil and gas projects, using new technologies which “might make the difference” between them going ahead or not in the currently difficult operating climate for North Sea firms.
The London market pulled back from near an all-time high today after a slump in shares for British Gas owner Centrica and stalemate in Greece’s debt talks. The Greek government offered to extend its rescue loan agreement by six months but Germany said the move “is not a substantial proposal for a solution.” The FTSE 100 Index closed 9.2 points down at 6888.9, in a lacklustre session which saw the top flight shy away from 15-year highs.
Centrica shares have taken a battering after the British Gas owner reported a slide in annual profits and slashed its dividend to shareholders. The decline in its share price came during a poor session for the wider market, with the FTSE 100 Index 22.1 points lower at 6875.2 amid uncertainty over a last-minute deal between Greece and its European creditors.
Annual profits at British Gas owner Centrica have fallen 35% to £1.75 billion in a “very difficult year” for the company, it said today. Profits from residential energy supply were down 23% to £439 million as the warmer weather meant each household spent around £100 less on bills than in 2013. Iain Conn, the former BP executive who took over as Centrica boss last month, said the company would cut investments and slash costs. He has launched a strategic review of the business.
Centrica has appointed a new non-executive director to the company. Steve Pusey will become a member of its audit, nominations and remuneration committee. Mr Pusey is currently the chief technology officer of Vodafone after joining the company in 2006 but is set to retire in July this year.
British Gas owner Centrica and rival SSE saw nearly £1.5 billion wiped off their combined market values today after Labour called for new powers to force energy companies to cut household tariffs. Labour wants to give regulator Ofgem the ability to force the companies to pass on falls in the price of wholesale oil and gas to consumers which it was today estimated could knock £136 off the average bill. It set off nervousness among investors about the uncertainty surrounding the sector in the approach to May’s general election, with party leader Ed Miliband already having committed to a price freeze.
Centrica is celebrating a ground-breaking date in the history of UK gas exploration and production today. Gas from the Irish Sea was extracted, processed and piped into the National Grid for the first time on January 9th 1985, marking 30 years of production from Morecambe Bay, one of the country’s biggest gas reservoirs. At peak, the region produced enough gas to meet 20% of the UK’s domestic demand.
Centrica, the UKs biggest energy supplier, has announced its managing director of international downstream Chris Weston, will leave the company in December. Mr Weston has been with company for the past 11 years, leading a number of businesses in both North America and the UK.
Trust in energy companies is at an all-time low in Aberdeen.