(1888PressRelease)
March 25, 2009 - Mira, Portugal – SADIF Investment Analytics SA, today announced the release of a new equity research report covering Centrica Plc (CNA). The report utilizes SADIF's powerful StockMarks™ stock rating system and is required reading for any current or potential Centrica Plc investor.
Report Summary: Shares in British utility company Centrica plc lost just 18% of their value over the past year compared to the 33% decline in the FTSE 100 index as investors sought safe haven in the stock. Centrica announced group full-year 2008 results on February 26, revealing that although revenue from continuing operations rose 31% during 2008, operating profit fell slightly. Group profit from continuing operations fell 20% due to higher taxes while the company incurred a statutory loss of GBP 144M down from a profit of GBP 1,507M in 2007. Centrica also lost market share and customers in its British Gas Residential business, losing more than 500,000 gas customers in 2008 compared to the earlier year. Downstream weakness was partially offset by higher upstream profits.
However the increased upstream profits attracted higher taxes, pushing the company into loss. Centrica also completed a number of acquisitions during the year and increased its cash flow to investing activities despite the weak outlook for the global economy. With Centrica shares holding up despite the company's weak results, it is important to for long-term investors to assess how much of the share price is simply a reflection of a flight to quality during a bear market opposed to a good outlook for the company's business. In order to perform this analysis, we should focus on the company's long-term fundamentals. We can assess the company's fundamentals through the StockMarks framework. Centrica currently has an overall long-term investment-attractiveness rating (Total StockMark or SMT) of 47, rating close to the UK market average. This rating places Centrica fourth among eight of the company's closest UK-listed peers, selected on the basis of similarity of business, market positioning factors such as size and share comparisons.
The complete report breaks down the Total StockMark into its three components – Business, Management and Price, performing a thorough analysis of Centrica Plc for long-term investors.
A summary of the StockMarks™ ratings for Centrica Plc is available here:
http://sadifanalytics.com/stockmarks/company.php?ticker=CNA&cod_country=110
The report has been distributed to Reuters, and forwarded to Yahoo Finance and FT.com. It is available under 'Analyst Reports' from these websites, from multiple professional platforms including Reuters Knowledge, TheMarkets.com and Thomson Research or directly from SADIF-Investment Analytics SA at:
http://sadifanalytics.com/stockmarks/article/hist_article.php?cod_country=110
About SADIF-Investment Analytics SA:
SADIF-Investment Analytics SA is an independent investment research company covering sixteen different markets and over 12,000 companies. The StockMarks™ system is based on proven investment principles and is designed to drive long-term shareholder returns.
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