Preliminary results for the year ended 31 December 2023

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Creating Value from our Balanced Portfolio

• Strong 2023 financial result.
• 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.
• £800m of cash returned to shareholders in the year through share repurchases and dividends.

“At the start of the energy crisis we committed to contribute a material sum from British Gas Energy and Bord Gáis Energy profits to support our customers. Whilst we are starting to see material commodity price falls, today we have committed another £40 million, bringing the total voluntary customer support to £140 million, more than any other supplier. 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. All of this has been made possible by the strong financial and operational performance across our balanced portfolio of businesses in 2023 as we deliver the strategy we set out in July.

We are pleased to report that this strong underlying operational performance has continued into early 2024. As you would expect, sharply lower commodity prices and reduced volatility will naturally lower earnings in comparison to 2023 as we return to a more normalised environment. Our performance over the past year has reinforced our confidence in delivering against our medium-term sustainable profit ambitions and continuing to create value for shareholders.”

Chris O’Shea | Group Chief Executive

Strong Financial Performance

• 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
  • Optimisation down £0.6bn to £0.9bn with lower absolute prices and volatility in commodity
  • Infrastructure down £0.2bn to £1.1bn including introduction of Electricity Generator Levy in
• Adjusted basic EPS slightly down to 33.4p.
• Statutory operating profit of £6.5bn including the impact of the 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 a 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.

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
  • Over 5m UK energy customers now migrated to our new technology
• Building momentum in our targeted £600m-£800m p.a. green-focused investment plan, with 2024 capex expected to increase from 2023 level of £415m.
• 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.

A Robust Outlook Against a Backdrop of Less Elevated Commodity Prices

Overall, the progress made in 2023 has reinforced our confidence in delivering the financial ambitions set out in July 2023, including building to deliver around £800m of sustainable adjusted operating profit over the medium-term from our Retail and Optimisation activities on average each year.

Strong underlying operational performance from 2023 has continued into early 2024. As is usual at this point in the year there are a range of factors that could impact financial performance, including the weather, commodity prices and volatility, the economy, the regulatory backdrop, the competitive environment and asset performance. Therefore, there are a range of possible outcomes for the full year.

In Retail, we do not expect a repeat of the 2023 one-off benefits from cost recovery in British Gas Energy. However, the underlying performance of British Gas Energy is in line with our medium-term expectation of

£150m-£250m of adjusted operating profit, and the performances of British Gas Services & Solutions and Bord Gáis in 2023 provide strong foundations to drive an improved result in both these businesses in 2024.

In addition, while lower commodity prices and reduced volatility relative to 2023 will naturally reduce optimisation opportunities in Centrica Energy (formerly Energy Marketing & Trading), Spirit Energy and Nuclear are largely protected from further commodity moves in 2024 by our rateable hedging strategy.