Centrica lost almost a fifth of its value in early trading after posting an £849m pre-tax loss for 2019.
In 2018 the group had recorded a profit of £987 million.
One-off charges totalling £1.1bn hit numbers hard and the near-term outlook remains grim for upstream operations.
Spirit Energy, the group’s North Sea oil and gas business now up for sale, incurred an impairment of £476 million. Exposure to the Dungeness B and Hunterston D nuclear plants, both responsible for power outages during the year, brought a further hit while some £356 million of redundancy and restructuring costs weighed heavy.
While domestic energy supply customer losses slowed, the company claimed the price cap cost it £300m.
Outgoing CEO Iain Conn suggested that, stripping away external factors, the core businesses remained stable relative to 2018.
The UK business energy division posted growth in customer numbers (up 7 per cent to 342,000), revenue and adjusted operating profit.
Full results here.
Related stories:
Centrica to exit oil and gas production, Conn to go
Centrica business profit soars, but challenges ahead
BP’s Richard Hookway to lead Centrica Business
Centrica acquires smart EV charging firm
Centrica buys aggregator Restore for £62m
Centrica Business CEO Mark Hanafin to retire
Centrica to cut 4,000 more jobs as headwinds strengthen
Centrica posts solid profits, but more job cuts to come
British Gas: Not retrenching from I&C market, worst of billing pain over
British Gas business energy supply profits wiped out
Centrica to pay £9.5m for business customer billing failures
British Gas: £4bn energy efficiency opportunity for UK firms
Centrica buys ENER-G’s CHP business in bid to pivot business model
Centrica’s Ener-G: Flexibility and grid services cash will drive CHP
Centrica to cut 3,000 jobs as utilities feel heat
Click here to see if you qualify for a free subscription to the print magazine, or to renew.
Follow us at @EnergystMedia. For regular bulletins, sign up for the free newsletter.
