Centrica, the energy firm which owns British Gas has said it will cut approximately 6,000 jobs .
The company said half of the job losses would go via redundancies, with the majority of the cuts being made in the UK.
However, Centrica said it would also create jobs in growth areas, so the overall net loss in jobs will be reduced, around 4,000 from the existing 37,500 staff.
First half profits at British Gas’s residential arm rose to £528m, an increase from £265m a year earlier. Centrica group profits fell 3{06aeb1921e0b802d2bd9c766bc98fb11cc6a46c2b0593ed9c88a0e29cf417a34} to £1bn.
Centrica said the rise in profits at British Gas was due to higher gas consumption, which was triggered by the cold weather earlier this year compared with milder weather in the first half of 2014.
However, the strong performance at British Gas was offset by a collapse in profits at Centrica’s oil and gas production division. Profits in this unit fell 78{06aeb1921e0b802d2bd9c766bc98fb11cc6a46c2b0593ed9c88a0e29cf417a34} to £116m as a result of lower oil prices.
Source: BBC Business