15 February 2024
Strong 2023 financial result. Adjusted basic EPS of 33.4p (2022: 34.9p).
Continued strong cash generation with free cash flow of £2.2bn.
£800m of cash returned to shareholders in the year through share repurchases and dividends. Full year dividend up 33% to 4.0p per share.
Improved operational performance across the Group underpinning long-term health of our businesses.
Building momentum in our disciplined green-focused growth and investment strategy.
2023 performance reinforces our confidence in delivering medium-term sustainable profit expectations.
Video: Group Chief Executive Chris O'Shea reflects on Centrica's performance in 2023.
Video: Centrica's Chief Financial Officer Russell O'Brien outlines the company's 2023 financial performance.
Strong financial performance from our balanced portfolio
- Adjusted operating profit (AOP) of £2.8bn slightly down on 2022 excluding disposed Spirit Energy Norway assets.
- Retail up £0.7bn to £0.8bn including a return to profitability in British Gas Services & Solutions and material prior period cost recovery in British Gas Energy.
- Optimisation down £0.6bn to £0.9bn with lower absolute prices and volatility in commodity markets.
- Infrastructure down £0.2bn to £1.1bn including introduction of Electricity Generator Levy in Nuclear.
- Adjusted basic EPS slightly down to 33.4p.
- Statutory operating profit of £6.5bn including impact of unwind of unrealised hedge position losses from 2022. Reflecting this, statutory basic EPS increased to 70.6p (2022: loss of 13.3p).
- Free cash flow of £2.2bn (2022: £2.5bn) includes £0.2bn working capital inflow (2022: £0.7bn outflow).
- Statutory net cash flow from operating activities of £2.8bn (2022: £1.3bn) includes £0.6bn of margin cash and collateral inflow (2022: £1.2bn outflow). Margin cash posted at the end of 2023 was £0.2bn (2022: £0.8bn).
- Strong liquidity and robust balance sheet, with closing adjusted net cash of £2.7bn (2022: £1.2bn).
- Total cash returns to shareholders of £0.8bn in the year. Full year dividend per share up 33% to 4.0p and £1bn share buyback programme due to run until July 2024.
"We’ve done a lot we can be proud of in 2023: we’ve paid over £1 billion in tax; we've created over 1,000 new UK based jobs as we continue to invest in customer service; and we’ve improved security of supply through doubling the capacity of the Rough gas storage facility, through extending the life of the Morecambe Bay gas field into the 2030s, and through investing to extend the life of our nuclear power stations.
Chris O'Shea, Group Chief Executive
Delivering for customers and against our refreshed strategy
- Committed £140m of voluntary direct support for UK and Ireland customers since the start of 2022.
- Improved operational metrics, customer satisfaction and customer retention across our Retail businesses reflecting continued investment in customer service.
- Recruitment of 700 new UK customer contact roles to support customers.
- Over 5m UK energy customers now migrated to our new technology platform.
- Building momentum in our targeted £600m-£800m p.a green-focused investment plan, with 2024 capex expected to increase from £415m in 2023.
- Strengthening energy security of supply with life extensions for Nuclear power stations, a life extension and the granting of a carbon storage licence for Morecambe Bay, and a near doubling of Rough gas storage capacity.
Further Reading
Results announcement
Webcast
Investor Presentation
Snapshot of 2023 Results
Adjusted operating profit
£2.8bn
2022: £3.2bn
-£0.5bn
Full year dividend per share
4.0p
2022: 3p
1.0p
Adjusted basic earnings per share
33.4p
2022: 34.9p
-1.5p
Free cash flow
£2.2bn
2022: £2.5bn
-£0.3bn
Adjusted net cash
£2.7bn
2022: £1.2bn
£1.5bn
Total cash returns to shareholders
£0.8bn
2022: £0.1bn
£0.7bn
Downloads
2023 Preliminary Results
- 2023 Preliminary Results Announcement(PDF – 4mb)
- 2023 Preliminary Results Investor Presentation(PDF – 2.2mb)
- 2023 Preliminary Results Transcript and Q+A(PDF – 202kb)