Centrica PLC, the owner of British Gas, has forecast top-end earnings for 2023, driven by “significantly” higher profit in its retail arm.
The FTSE 100-listed firm said performance in the first five months of the year, across the business, has been strong overall.
“Given our current outlook, we expect 2023 full-year group adjusted earnings per share to be around the top end of the range of recent sell side analyst expectations, with adjusted earnings per share heavily weighted towards the first half,” Centrica said.
In retail, adjusted operating profit in the first half is expected to be significantly higher than in previous years, driven by a material positive impact in British Gas Energy from allowances in the UK domestic default tariff cap relating to costs incurred in prior periods.
In optimisation, performance in energy marketing & trading has remained strong to date.
In infrastructure, availability and volumes from gas production, nuclear and gas storage assets have been good, helping to offset the impact of lower wholesale commodity prices.
First-half net cash generation is also expected to be robust.
Working capital inflows in energy marketing & trading relating to the continued cash realisation of 2022 profit are expected to be broadly offset by working capital outflows in British Gas Energy, reflecting seasonality and the changing price environment, and timing of government customer support scheme payments.
The company gave the update ahead of its AGM today.