Centrica to axe 1,300 jobs, interim earnings slide
By Abigail Townsend
Date: Thursday 23 Jul 2026
(Sharecast News) - Centrica is axing more than 1,000 jobs, the owner of British Gas confirmed on Thursday, as it posted a slide in first-half earnings.
The blue chip said around 1,300 role reductions were already under, which will result in a 14% cut to its total customer operations workforce and 3% reduction in operating costs.
Centrica said the job cuts were part of its ongoing transformation programme as well as changing customer behaviour. Average contact per customer was down 20% year-on-year, it noted, while around 90% of customers now use digital self-serve channels.
The job cuts had either already been delivered or were currently being implemented, it added.
The update was included in the first half-results, which showed earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation fall 18% to £737m in the six months to 30 June, and adjusted operating profits slide to £497m from £549m.
The interim dividend was increased to 2p per share from 1.83p, however.
Centrica said the year-on-year decline in earnings had been driven predominantly by lower realised prices in nuclear, production outages and the sale of Spirit Energy assets.
Centrica, which owns 69% of Spirit Energy, has been selling off its assets as it looks to streamline its portfolio and end North Sea gas production. "The team is now focused on producing the remaining gas at Morecambe safely and efficiently, decommissioning while minimising the environmental impact and progressing the Morecambe Net Zero project," it confirmed.
The infrastructure division also houses Centrica's nuclear interests, including the new development at Sizewell C. Nuclear generation volumes were 11% lower in the first half, driven by planned outages but also higher levels of unplanned outages
In retail, adjusted EBITDA rose 2% to £346m, after an improved commercial performance and higher prices were partially offset by a jump in bad debt.
Chris O'Shea, chief executive, said: "Our journey to create a higher quality, more valuable Centrica continued during the first half. Our operational foundations are strong, commercial performance is improving and we continue to progress our transformation programme as we drive efficiency through the organisation.
"Volatility across energy markets has created challenges in some parts of our business, and some of our deliver has been slower than we would like.
"However, we have continued to invest with discipline to strengthen our portfolio and support long-term growth."
Looking to the full-year, Centrica said that adjusted EBITDA in the retail arm was likely to come in towards the lower end of its guidance range, of between £500m and £800m, while infrastructure was slated to deliver earnings between £650m and £750m.
As at 1015 BST, stock had shed 4% at 172.5p.
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