Scottish & Southern lifts gas and electricity tariffs
21st Jul 2011 07:05
Scottish & Southern Energy has become the latest of the "big six" utility groups to warn of higher tariffs, saying it will increase household electricity prices by an average of 11% and household gas prices by 18% from 14 September. The company, which has more than 10m customers in Scotland and cen
Read moreBritish Gas lifts prices by 18%
8th Jul 2011 10:46
British Gas, which is owned by the FTSE 100 firm Centrica, will increase domestic gas and electricity prices by an average of 18% and 16% respectively from 18 August. The move had been expected following Scottish Power's announcement in June that it will increase gas prices by 19% and electricity p
Read moreOfgem slaps £1m on Centrica's British Gas
1st Jul 2011 14:08
Energy regulator Ofgem slapped a £1m penalty on British Gas, a unit of Centrica, for misreporting the amount of electricity supplied under the government's renewables obligation. Ofgem said the error was caused by incorrect representation of the reporting requirements and insufficient procedures b
Read moreNo change to Centrica guidance
28th Jun 2011 08:20
Centrica, the UK energy giant, has continued to trade in line with guidance provided in its May interim management statements. The group confirmed that earnings for the first half of 2011 are expected to be lower than in 2010. This is in line with previous guidance but the causes are interesting.
Read moreWednesday newspaper round-up: Greece, energy companies, women on bank boards
22nd Jun 2011 06:03
European leaders have been urged to scrap plans for a second Greek bail-out - as the Athens government wins a critical vote of confidence in parliament. Leading London-based think tank Open Europe has claimed that a fresh bail-out, expected to be around €120bn (£106bn), will almost triple taxpayers'
Read moreFTSE 100 movers: Insurers dominate the risers
7th Jun 2011 15:34
UK insurance buyout firm Resolution is the pick of the bunch today, after announcing its plans to return £500m of excess cash to shareholders. Citi has reiterated its 'buy' recommendation on the stock, saying that - given lower asset and debt leverage - "the Resolution business should be at a premi
Read moreThursday newspaper round-up: Glencore, Southern Cross, Morrisons
2nd Jun 2011 06:06
Newly listed commodities trader Glencore has been barred from borrowing from the European Investment Bank (EIB) because of "serious concerns" about how the company is run. The bank, the lending arm of the EU, yesterday said it had frozen all new loans to the Switzerland-based group which floated in
Read moreFTSE 100 movers: Outsourcers improve on gains
31st May 2011 14:44
Serco, the outsourcing company whose activities include running prisons and London's Docklands Light Railway, has announced the acquisition of India-based service provider Intelenet for up to £385m, boosting shares higher on Tuesday. Prime Markets thinks that the purchase will "safely propel" Serco
Read moreGermany's nuclear exit positive for renewables
31st May 2011 10:39
Germany's decision to exit all of its nuclear power plants marks a clear win for renewable energy, according to Matrix, which highlights a number of UK companies that could benefit. The German government have announced that it will close all 17 nuclear plants in the country by 2022, aiming to repla
Read moreCentrica's Carr spends £100,000
17th May 2011 16:00
Centrica's chairman Sir Roger Carr has doubled his stake in the energy supplier, spending £100,000. He bought 31,920 shares at 313.3p a time and now has 58,361. Carr has been chairman of Centrica since 2004. He was also chairman of Cadbury until the chocolate manufacturer was taken over by the US
Read moreFTSE 100 movers: Aggreko leads the fallers
16th May 2011 15:45
The Footsie has come off its lows but remains in the red, led by temporary power supplier Aggreko, who is trading over 3% lower. Engineers Invensys and Weir are also out of favour. Data software firm Autonomy is wanted after it announced that it is to boost its cloud computing capability with a $38
Read moreCentrica beefs up social housing presence
16th May 2011 08:53
Centrica's British Gas Community Energy division has acquired PH Jones Group, a provider of central heating services to the social housing market, for £30m in cash. The acquisition represents another step in energy supplier Centrica's strategy to beef up its presence in the social housing energy se
Read moreFTSE 100 movers: Miners in full retreat
12th May 2011 14:39
The mining sector is out of favour Thursday as worries over global economic growth have caused continuing declines in commodity prices. Fresnillo, Antofagasta, Vedanta Resources, Eurasian Natural Resources Corp and Lonmin are among the worst performers. Meanwhile, the insurers are also on the dec
Read moreThursday newspaper round-up: British Gas v Ofgem, BoE v Starbucks, ECB
12th May 2011 06:06
Britain's top energy suppliers rounded on Ofgem yesterday, claiming that the regulator bore responsibility for eroding consumers' trust in them. The companies are unhappy with the populist tone adopted in the media by Ofgem's chief executive Alistair Buchanan. Phil Bentley, the managing director of
Read moreTuesday tips round-up: Serco, Lonmin, Eros
10th May 2011 06:30
That Serco's shares managed to remain strong throughout the session after the outsourcer issued an update yesterday is creditable. The update was reassuring, with the group saying that it remained on track to deliver on expectations for 2011. We do think that Serco is fairly valued at current levels
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