MSE News: British Gas profits up, months after hiking prices

Nada666

ashleyriot wrote: »

But the profit margin increased 11%.

No it has not. Where did you read that the margin has increased from around 4.5% to about 5%? Please re-read whatever you read that you interpreted as saying this.

Like I originally said, it is precisely because of readers like you that journalists need to take great care before flashing around unhelpful numbers.

ashleyriot

Nada666 wrote: »

No it has not. Where did you read that the margin has increased from around 4.5% to about 5%? Please re-read whatever you read that you interpreted as saying this.

Like I originally said, it is precisely because of readers like you that journalists need to take great care before flashing around unhelpful numbers.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-21598504

And specifically:

"Profits from its residential energy supply arm rose 11% from a year earlier to £606m."

And in your example, a rise of profit from 4.5% to 5.0% is only 0.5% but it is a percentage increase of (5.0 - 4.5) / 4.5 = 0.11111 or 11.1%.

Consumerist

Nada666 wrote: »

. . . There is no story. . .

So why comment on it?

. . . with parent company Centrica saying the rise in profits came after colder-than-normal weather saw gas use leap compared with the previous year. . .

So, how does this work for consumers who are being urged by Government to reduce energy usage? It's not going to reduce bills if the energy companies are going to compensate by raising prices by more than is justified.

Consumerist

Nada666 wrote: »

No it has not. Where did you read that the margin has increased from around 4.5% to about 5%? Please re-read whatever you read that you interpreted as saying this. Like I originally said, it is precisely because of readers like you that journalists need to take great care before flashing around unhelpful numbers.

I notice, however, that you don't quote any sources for your assertions.

Are you an investor or an employee of the gas industry, I wonder?

Cardew

Mr_K wrote: »

Great news for my BG shares/dividends.

Even with the rise today BG's share price is £11.63; this time last year they were over £15, - over 30% higher

http://uk.finance.yahoo.com/echarts?s=BG.L#symbol=bg.l;range=1y;compare=;indicator=volume;charttype=area;crosshair=on;ohlcvalues=0;logscale=off;source=undefined;


Last November this happened:

BG Group sees £6bn wiped off its value after production warning






BG Group suffered the biggest one-day share price fall in its history on
Wednesday, wiping about £6bn off the value of the company, after warning it
would see no growth in its oil and gas production next year.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/energy/9646935/BG-Group-sees-6bn-wiped-off-its-value-after-production-warning.html

redux

Can any of these news organisations include a remark about what date the accounts go to? Is this the year to Sept 30, Nov 30, Dec 31?

They say this is based on colder weather than average, but my memory is that last winter (2011/2012, not now) seemed a bit warmer than the one before.

Much of the reporting seems to hint that the profit increase is due to the price rise, but surely this is wrong and simplistic as the profit is for a whole year which includes hardly any or even perhaps none of the time since the price rise.

And perhaps that is where the basis of the fuss might be, that the price increases were described as necessary, but this might suggest the period up to then wasn't so bad after all

Perelandra

Cardew wrote: »

Even with the rise today BG's share price is £11.63; this time last year they were over £15, - over 30% higher

BG Group isn't British Gas- it's a different company (used to be part of the same company, but that was many years ago).

British Gas is owned by Centrica, whose share price performance is here:

http://www.google.co.uk/finance?client=ob&q=LON:CNA

(NB: I work for British Gas, but any posts I make on here are my own opinions, and do not necessarily represent those of my employer)

Consumerist

I think, where primary producers are concerned, the problem is that their accounts can be massaged to tell any old yarn they want to spin. It's similar to the declared "profits" of companies such as Starbucks, Amazon, etc.

MillicentBystander

Perelandra wrote: »

BG Group isn't British Gas- it's a different company (used to be part of the same company, but that was many years ago).

British Gas is owned by Centrica, whose share price performance is here:

http://www.google.co.uk/finance?client=ob&q=LON:CNA

(NB: I work for British Gas, but any posts I make on here are my own opinions, and do not necessarily represent those of my employer)

Was just going to post this. Totally different company.

dude89

Seems like we have the same discussions year on year.

Can't MSE save time and just reprint last years discussion.

This is from 3 years ago :
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/2867214

Looks very similar to this year

Or even 5 years ago: https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/755583

Whether or not we agree with the profit companies make, I'm sure these sensationalist headlines help with referrals to comparison websites etc.


I look forward to this discussion again next year