2024 Preliminary Results

20 February 2025

Creating Value through the energy transition

• Adjusted EBITDA⁽ⁱ⁾ of £2.3bn (2023: £3.5bn) with full year adjusted operating profit (AOP) of £1.6bn (2023: £2.8bn):
  • Our Retail and Optimisation businesses delivered £0.8bn (2023: £1.7bn) of operating profit, in line with the mid-point of our earnings guidance⁽ⁱⁱ⁾.
  • Retail AOP of £0.4bn (2023: £0.8bn), with improved British Gas Services & Solutions and Bord Gáis Energy performance, and a strong result in British Gas Energy with no repeat of one-off cost recoveries seen in 2023.
  • Optimisation AOP of £0.4bn (2023: £0.9bn) reflecting lower commodity prices and volatility.
  • Infrastructure AOP of £0.8bn (2023: £1.1bn) underpinned by our hedging strategy, although lower seasonal gas price spreads materially reduced profitability from Centrica Energy Storage+ (CES+).
• Adjusted basic EPS for the full year of 19.0p (2023: 33.4p).
• Statutory operating profit of £1.7bn (2023: £6.5bn) includes the impact of the unwind of unrealised hedges from 2023; statutory basic EPS decreased to 25.7p (2023: 70.6p).
• Free cash flow of £1.0bn (2023: £2.2bn) includes increased capital expenditure(iii) of £0.6bn (2023: £0.4bn) as we continue to focus on investing for value aligned to the changing energy system.
• Statutory net operating cash flow of £1.1bn (2023: £2.8bn) includes £0.1bn of margin cash and collateral inflow (2023: £0.6bn). Closing 2024 margin cash posted of £0.1bn (2023: £0.2bn).
• £1.0bn of corporation tax and other payments to governments in the year.
• Strong liquidity and balance sheet, with closing adjusted net cash of £2.9bn (2023: £2.7bn).
• £0.7bn cash returned to shareholders in 2024 (2023: £0.8bn) through £0.5bn (2023: £0.6bn) share buybacks and £0.2bn (2023: £0.2bn) dividend payments. 
• 2024 full year dividend per share up by 13% to 4.5p, in line with our progressive dividend policy.

2024 Strategic highlights

Continued delivery on our core drivers of operational excellence, commercial focus and investing for value, with strong progress in all areas.

• Customer satisfaction improvements across Retail with reduced complaints and higher Net Promoter Scores ("NPS") compared to 2023. Focus remains on growing our customer base, which remained broadly flat over the year.
• Unique nationwide same day engineer repair visit offering in British Gas Services & Solutions, enabled by our stronger operations and new planning and dispatch system.
• Meter Asset Provider (MAP) ramp-up progressing strongly, with ~450,000 Centrica smart meters installed in 2024 and expected low-risk IRR of at least 9%.
• Continuing to support UK and Irish energy security and decarbonisation:
  • Life extensions announced for UK nuclear stations - Heysham 1 and Hartlepool through to March 2027 and Heysham 2 and Torness through to March 2030.
  • 2x 100MW Irish flexible power generation plants to be commissioned in the second half of 2025, and in January 2025 we secured a capacity market contract to develop a new 334MW station.
• Updated climate transition plan launched January 2025, bringing forward the target to be a net zero business by five years to 2040.

Our outlook for 2025

• 2025 outlook is unchanged. Consistent with our December trading statement, it is expected that:
  • All Retail Energy Supply and Optimisation businesses will be within their medium-term sustainable adjusted operating profit ranges⁽ⁱⁱ⁾ for 2025.
  • British Gas Services & Solutions will deliver a further improved financial result compared with 2024, as it continues recovery towards its medium-term sustainable adjusted operating profit range by 2026^(iv).
  • 2025 Infrastructure adjusted EBITDA⁽ⁱ⁾ of £0.65bn-£0.85bn, equivalent to adjusted operating profit of £0.25bn-£0.4bn, subject to asset performance and commodity prices. This includes an expected adjusted operating loss in the range of £50m-£100m for Centrica Energy Storage+.
  • The usual uncertainties remain, including weather, commodity prices, regulation and government policy. This results in a range of possible outcomes for the full year.
• Outlook demonstrates a pathway towards £1.6bn run-rate of EBITDA(i) by the end of 2028, with 85% from activities underway today.
• Intention to increase 2025 dividend per share to 5.5p; commitment to reach 2x earnings coverage by 2028, in line with our progressive dividend policy. Additional £500m share buyback extension announced today, taking the total programme to £2.0bn, to be completed by around the end of 2025, depending on market conditions.
• Further details on our Infrastructure hedging positions are provided on pages 14 and 15.

Further Reading