British Gas owner loses 742,000 customers and issues price cap warning. Centrica (CNA) says it will take £300m hit on cap on energy bills and lowers 2019 cashflow outlook. The owner of British Gas, Centrica, lost about three-quarters of a million customers last year and warned it will take a £300m hit from the government’s price cap on energy bills. Shares in Britain’s biggest energy company dropped more than 10% after the company lowered its cashflow outlook for 2019, leading investors to fear Centrica’s dividend could be cut. Iain Conn, the chief executive, said the group faced a “huge number of headwinds”, including the price cap, reduced gasfield production and several of its nuclear power plants being offline.
Purplebricks shares plunge 40% on lower revenue forecasts. Online estate agent announces departure of both UK and US heads after second downgrade. Shares in the UK’s largest online estate agent, Purplebricks Group (PURP), plunged 40% after the company slashed its revenue forecasts and announced the surprise departure of both its US and UK bosses. The company blamed slower than expected growth in its fledgling US business and “headwinds” in Australia, as it said revenue for the year was unlikely to exceed £140m compared with an earlier forecast of up to £175m. The revenue prediction had already been downgraded once, at the time of its disappointing half-year results, from £185m. Last year’s revenues were £93.7m, which yielded an operating loss of £19.6m. The combined £45m downgrade to this year’s full-year sales forecasts is significant given that Australia and the US, the two divisions it said were struggling, only reported revenues of £12.5m combined in the first half of the year.
Barclays (BARC) pledges to return more money to shareholders. Bank reports flat profits and sets aside £150m to cover uncertainty over Brexit. The Barclays chief executive, Jes Staley, has promised to return more money to shareholders in an effort to fend off the attentions of the activist investor Edward Bramson, as the bank reported flat profits for 2018. Pre-tax profits of £3.5bn were held back by litigation and conduct charges of £2.2bn for the year, while the bank also took a £150m charge to cover economic uncertainty over Brexit. Staley has come under pressure in the past year after Bramson amassed a 5.5% stake in the bank through his Sherborne investment vehicle and called for a major change of strategic direction. Bramson wants to cut back Barclays’ investment bank to free up capital for more profitable activities.
