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By Nina Chestney
LONDON, May 10 (Reuters) - British utility Centrica
said on Monday it is on track to achieve cost savings of more
than 100 million pounds ($141 million) this year despite
difficult trading conditions.
In a trading update, Centrica said COVID-19 continued to
impact the company in the first quarter as electricity demand
from its UK business customers was down around 15%.
Residential boiler installations were down 11% compared with
the first quarter last year, and non-essential service visits
were postponed to protect staff and customers from the risks of
catching and spreading COVID-19.
"As expected, trading conditions have remained tough in the
year to date," said Chris O’Shea, Group Chief Executive.
"However, the modernisation of our group remains on track
and the difficult, but necessary process to move colleagues onto
new terms and conditions is now complete," he added.
Centrica said 98% of its UK staff have accepted new
contracts.
The British Gas owner has sought to reinvent itself as an
energy service provider, selling upstream assets, and
restructuring plans announced last year are expected to lead to
a total reduction of around 5,000 roles across the group when
compared with the start of 2020.
This year has seen a series of industrial actions from a
portion of British Gas’ services engineer staff over terms and
conditions.
The group's net debt, including margin cash, at the end of
the first quarter was 0.5 billion pounds, down from 3 billion
pounds at the start of the year.
Centrica said it was not providing specific earnings or cash
flow guidance for this year. It will release its interim results
on July 22.
($1 = 0.7113 pounds)
(Reporting by Nina Chestney, editing by Louise Heavens)
