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Investing.com -- Centrica (LON:CNA) shares rose on Thursday after the company reported better-than-expected first-half EBIT and raised its interim dividend by 22%, while keeping full-year guidance unchanged.
Centrica plc declared an interim dividend of 1.83p per share for the six-month period ended June 30.
The dividend will be paid on October 30 to shareholders on record as of September 19, with the stock trading ex-dividend from September 18.
The company reported first-half EBIT of £549 million, which was 8% ahead of the company-compiled consensus.
Analysts at Jefferies attributed the beat to stronger-than-expected performance in the Storage+ segment, partly due to the extraction of cushion gas, and in Spirit Energy.
However, both divisions were taxed at high rates, which limited the impact of the EBIT outperformance on net income. As a result, first-half EPS stood at 7.0p, in line with expectations.
Centrica reiterated its full-year 2025 dividend target of 5.5p per share, implying a 3.4% yield.
The company said it has sufficient distributable reserves, based on retained earnings at the individual legal entity level, to support dividend payments.
Jefferies said the update was consistent with expectations and is unlikely to result in material changes to the consensus outlook for the full year.