A rise to near-record profits has been expected for Centrica, the lead gas owner from Scotland. It has been a relief for the company after the sharp decline of retail sales due to rise in value added tax and terrible snowfall in Britain last month.
After the rise in VAT back to 17.5% after 13 months sales volumes have felled drastically to almost 1.2%. But Centrica haven’t lost its way in the dip time of deep recession. Centrica have became the first of the “big six” energy companies of UK.
The operating profits of the company have notched up by the residential arm are expected to hit £554million at the end of the quarter. This figure is almost an upbeat from £379million in 2008. At the same time Scottish and British Gas have also gained from last month’s snow, which falls outside the period of the results. The operating profits down 7% to £1.82billion in 2009.
According to experts this rise is due to the lower wholesale gas prices have a bigger downward effect on production profits as compared the uplift given by the residential business.