British utility Centrica reported a decline of 7 per cent in profit for 2009, due to lower wholesale gas and power prices, but said its British Gas unit was performing strongly. The company's profit remained at £595 million for the last year.

Overall revenue of the company increased by three per cent and operating profit margin grew to 7.6 per cent from 4.8 per cent in the fiscal year 2008 due to addition of 14,100 gas and electricity customers.

The company recorded a solid performance in the retail business during the quarter, which was offset by the 62 percent decline in its operating profit from the oil and gas production segment.

According to Ofgem, the industry regulator, Britain's biggest energy companies, which were earning their highest level of profits for five years, were expected to spark further concern that householders are not seeing the full benefit of low gas prices in the market.

For the fiscal year 2010, the company is having a positive outlook and it is trading in line with the expectations with strong downstream performance offsetting the impact of low gas prices on upstream businesses.