Shares in Centrica were down on the FTSE 100 in the morning trading after the energy company, which owns British Gas, said it had performed "strongly" in the third quarter of the year.

Centrica said that its forecasts for operating profit for 2010 were "slightly ahead of current market expectations". The group said that British Gas was performing well, with the number of residential energy accounts on supply rising by 270,000 since the beginning of the year.

In the third quarter residential gas consumption dropped two per cent, while electricity consumption fell one per cent, compared with the same period last year.

Last week Centrica said that it would be increasing residential gas and electricity prices by an average of seven per cent, due mainly to higher wholesale prices

By 11:10 shares in Centrica were down 1.44 per cent on the FTSE 100 to 328.60 pence per share.

FTSE