Bord Gáis Energy owner Centrica has cut its 2015-2016 exploration and investment budget by £400 million after weak energy prices drove down full-year profit.

Britain’s largest utility reported a 35 per cent fall in 2014 adjusted operating profit, with the lower energy prices eating into earnings at both its production and supply units.

The firm, which acquired Bord Gáis Energy for €1.1 billon last year, and which also owns British Gas, had already announced a tighter 2015 capital expenditure programme in November, when it also prepared investors for lower than expected 2014 earnings due to mild weather and lower output at nuclear plants.

Since then, low oil prices have had a knock-on effect on Centrica’s upstream business, which mainly produces gas.

Reuters