Centrica chief executive Conn to step down

It comes after the company reported a pre-tax loss of £446m in the six months to June. It made a £704m profit at the same time in 2018.

Profit at the company’s consumer division, which includes British Gas, is down 44 percent to £240m. Centrica said the fall reflected the impact of the government’s price cap, which was brought in at the beginning of 2019.

The company said Conn will continue in his role “to drive the repositioning of the company’s portfolio” and improve underlying performance. It added it anticipates he will remain with the company at least until the 2020 AGM to support in handing over to the next chief executive.

On the company’s performance, Conn said: “Centrica faced an exceptionally challenging environment in the first half of 2019, which impacted earnings and cash flows. We have also regrettably had to make the decision to rebase the dividend due to our changed circumstances including the UK energy price cap and increased demands on our cash flows, including additional pension contributions.

“The outlook is more positive for the second half of the year and we expect this momentum to continue into 2020, while we expect to meet our cash flow and net targets for 2019.”