My advice to Centrica and BT: have a plan if you are going to cut the dividend

Investment can be a kind of introspective business and it struck me yesterday that it was kind of interesting that when i wrote up my latest musings on Marks & Spencer (MKS) the other day, I did not even mention the dividend cut.  It was not as if I did not know about it but in an article where I probably squeezed in too many corporate names, it did not feel that relevant versus the Ocado related money raising, continued roll-out of the new strategy and the reiteration of numbers.  I found it interesting too that you had to delve quite deep into the deadwood press articles of the next day to spot this aspect of the update too.  

Centrica tests my faith whilst Barclays rewards it

I am often asked why I focus on larger cap shares when 'elephants cannot gallop' and 'surely all those brokers covering the stocks out there mean there is pretty efficient pricing'. Obviously the former is a more reasonable point than the latter, although judging by the way the shares of both Centrica (CNA) and Barclays (BARC) have moved around in recent months, there has been a decent amount of galloping too (mostly downhill to a lower share price)...

Centrica (#CNA) – $300m disposal of North American franchisee home services business, Clockwork, Inc

Centrica (#CNA) – 2018 adj. EPS -10%, DPS maintained, 2019 cash flow guidance lower than 2018

Centrica's management are laughing after big regulator price cap fail

I do not remember the various price caps employed by Ted Heath's government in the early 1970s...but the history books tell me all I need to know as to their impact which was a mega policy failure and contributed to the election of a Labour government (of course it also led to the monetarist/free market revolution that ultimately led to the rise of Mrs T). Price caps distort markets and give incorrect incentives, a point made multiple times over the last year by the management of Centrica (CNA), concerning the introduction of energy price caps by Ofgem following agreement by the government...

Centrica (#CNA) – “remain on track to achieve our 2018 group targets”

How a New Army of Indy Suppliers Poses a Continuing Threat to Centrica

Hello, Share Scoopers. An outfit I was once extremely loyal to, perhaps too much so, is Centrica (CNA), better known to most of us as British Gas. No longer. And if I still had the shares, they would be on my likely-to-sell-soon list.

Looking at another dividend muncher: Centrica

I commented in the aftermath of the big sell off (which was just a correction at the time) that a good many companies had interesting yields. I subsequently bought a bit of BT (BT.A) at around 225p as I suspect at the next results I’ll be bagging a yield of 7% or a little more. Now I want to look for another nice payout: what will it be?

Centrica (#CNA) – EPS expected to be around 12.5p - “lower than market consensus”. DPS though “underpinned”

Centrica unveils an economic lesson for the Chancellor in Budget week

It is going to be a week filled with economic rhetoric - as every UK Government Budget epoch tends to be. As an aside - and something to remember for this Wednesday - the way to spot a better than average budget is if it is generally slammed in the press the day after. Someone told me this rule too many years ago to recall and I have to say it has been pretty accurate since. Anyhow, back to stocks and specifically another bout of economic common sense from Centrica (CNA) today on the issues of why price caps do not work.

Centrica (#CNA) – €70m acquisition of REstore NV, Europe’s leading demand response aggregator

Here's Why Centrica Shares May Not Hit the Gas This Winter

Hello, Share Hearties. No mistake about it, Centrica (CNA) is a well-run company and a huge entity. Its market cap is £9.6 billion. But as we know, the expression ‘Too big to fail’ does not always work. Many of us will have lost money on British giants that went pear-shaped, like BT, British Energy, Northern Rock, RBS etc. And Centrica does not seem to me a rosy share to hold or buy at the moment.

Centrica gets shafted by the government getting down with the electorate

After the omnishables that was Theresa May’s big cough-rence speech, mumblings from the Brexit transition Queen about the need for a price cap on the easy targets of the electricity and gas utilities spanked the shares of Centrica (CNA) and Scottish & Southern (SSE), with the former falling to a 14 year share price low. Whilst the latter bores me, the former does grab my attention as the current management team does have a sensible plan involving selling us energy efficiency related technology and services to complement our core gas and electricity bills.

Centrica (#CNA) – net £240m sale agreement for its Canadian E&P business

Energy Caps Will Only Make Things Worse for Centrica

Hello Share Squishers. It seems fairly obvious that gas and electricity supply companies may well see slimmer share prices after all this general election talk about capping energy bills. But so far, the market has not cropped shares by very much.

Why Centrica Is Not Centrical to My Share Buying Agenda

Hello Share Screamers. It's quite a few years back now that I made a juicy packet out of my Centrica (CNA) shares, first bought in a government share-buy scheme. Seems centuries since we had those tempting offers, doesn’t it? Ever since I sold those shares, I can report that they have not done particularly well. The big problem with Centrica (CNA), which trades as British Gas, is the growing competition.

Centrica (#CNA) – H1 adj. EPS -17%, DPS +1%, claims “remain on track to deliver or exceed” 2016 targets

Why I'm Not Warming to British Gas: Ref: Centrica.

Hello Share Riders. As a long, but mild, winter gets set to change into Spring, I am going cold on Centrica (CNA). Time was when I was a great supporter. Much good did it do me. I made a lot of cash in my early years with them, but then the share price more or less flattened out. 

Centrica (#CNA) Trading Statement: FY earnings in line after capital expenditure trimmed

Centrica (#CNA) - Groups operating profit down 3%