Centrica loses more customers in first quarter but remains on track to meet 2016 goals

British Gas owner Centrica said it remains on track to meet its full-year targets after a solid performance in the first three months of the year, despite losing more customers.

The FTSE 100 group said it expects to deliver £200m (€251m, $284m) in efficiency savings this year amid its plan to cut its business costs by approximately £750m, indicating it will cut 2,200 jobs across the business over the remainder of the year on top of the 800 positions scrapped in March. Centrica added that like-for-like costs in 2016 are likely to be lower than in the previous year and reiterated that its adjusted operating cashflow target for this year will surpass £2bn.

However, the London-listed company revealed it lost another 1.5% of its home energy accounts – some 224,000 customers – in the first three months of 2016, primarily as a result of significant long-term contracts roll-off. The group, which last month implemented its third gas price reduction since the start of 2015, said it expects to launch a series of new products in the second quarter of 2016.

"We continue to make good progress in implementing our strategy, and with improving levels of customer service, good operational performance, lower costs, and the launch of new products to help customers manage their energy usage, we remain on track to deliver against our 2016 targets," said group chief executive Iain Conn.

In its trading statement, Centrica said its UK business returned to profit in the first three months of the year, while its US-based energy supply division delivered a solid performance despite the unusually warm weather.