British Gas has announced a jump in operating profits of 58 per cent to £595 million, up from £379 million in 2008.
Releasing its 2009 preliminary results today, Centrica, the parent company of British Gas, said that the profits rose due to the addition of 141,000 gas and electricity customers and following operational improvements.
The company said that the outlook for British Gas in 2010 was positive, with the cold start to the year seeing record demand in the UK.
The reported profits for British Gas were far higher than most analysts were expecting.
Centrica itself has had a busy year on the acquisitions front. It bought the North Sea gas producer Venture in August for $2 billion (£1.3 billion), which increased its UK gas and oil reserves by 50 per cent. It also established a firm foothold in the nuclear market when it purchased a 20 per cent stake in British Energy.
On Thursday, the company said it was buying a stake in Trinidadian gas blocks from Suncor Energy for $380 million (£247 million).
Commenting on the results, CenticaÔÇÖs CEO Sam Laidlaw said: ÔÇ£2009 was a year of significant achievement for Centrica with British Gas now transformed and the completion of the Venture Production and British Energy transactions.
ÔÇ£Our existing strategic priorities have now been achieved, and today we have announced new priorities to build on the robust, vertically-integrated business model that we have in place.ÔÇØ
He concluded: ÔÇ£Centrica is well-positioned to pursue growth opportunities and lead the drive to a low-carbon world, whilst maintaining the financial discipline to secure strong returns on our investments.ÔÇØ
In response to public anger that utility companies are not quick enough to pass on falls in wholesale gas prices, Centrica pointed out that its profits only equated to around £3 per month after tax for each of the 10.26 million homes it supplied during the 2009 period.
As a whole, Centrica's operating profit was down seven per cent on 2008 at £1.86 billion, as declines in wholesale gas prices saw decreasing returns from its upstream production business.
 
