(Reuters) -Centrica said on Thursday it was extending its share buyback programme by 300 million pounds ($360.96 million) after its annual profit more than tripled on high energy prices, robust electricity generation and gas production levels.
The results come as millions of households are struggling to pay energy bills and with the company under scrutiny after The Times newspaper reported that debt agents working for the firm’s British Gas arm had forcibly installed prepayment meters in some vulnerable customers’ homes.
Centrica’s earnings were boosted by soaring profit in its upstream oil and gas division, with wholesale gas prices hitting record highs last year as Russian gas supplies to Europe shrank following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
It also owns a 20% stake in Britain’s nuclear fleet which saw increased generation levels last year and benefited from higher electricity prices.
Chief Executive Chris O’Shea said cost-of-living pressures had created a challenging environment for customers and said the company invested 75 million pounds in supporting customers last year.
Centrica restored its dividend at its interim results last year for the first time since 2019 when the company also began major cost-cutting and sales of upstream assets.
It proposed a final dividend of 2 pence, taking the full-year dividend to 3 pence.
The extension of the company’s share buy-back programme, on top of the 250 million pound buybacks already announced, would result in it buying back 10% of its capital, the group said.
Centrica’s adjusted operating profit for 2022 rose to 3.3 billion pounds from 948 million pounds in the previous year.
($1 = 0.8311 pounds)
(Reporting by Susanna Twidale in London and Muhammed Husain in Bengaluru; Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips and Christopher Cushing)
