By Nina Kienle

Shares in Centrica fell on Thursday after the energy company paused its share buyback program following a swing to a full-year net loss amid a challenging market backdrop.

In European morning trading, shares trade 9.4% lower at 177.50 pence and lead the FTSE 100 index fallers. Shares are up 4.6% over the year to date.

The U.K. company, which owns British Gas, posted a net loss of 72 million pounds ($97.1 million) from the prior year's profit of 1.33 billion pounds, while revenue fell to 19.49 billion pounds from 19.91 billion pounds.

Meanwhile pretax profit fell to 112 million pounds from 1.68 billion pounds the prior year.

Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization dropped to 1.42 billion pounds from 2.30 billion pounds.

Centrica said it faced short-term challenges in home energy supply and optimization and lower prices and spreads in its infrastructure segment.

In its U.K home energy segment, adjusted Ebitda fell to 224 million pounds from 331 million pounds in 2024. Warmer weather was an 80 million pound headwind, while the commodity curve--which plots the prices of commodity futures contracts with different maturities--also negatively impacted profitability, Centrica said.

"The environment has been challenging, and performance has varied across the business," Chief Executive Chris O'Shea said.

Centrica also said it is pausing its share buyback, prioritizing investments to create value for shareholders. Major projects like nuclear power plant Sizewell C are laying the groundwork for more stable and predictable earnings, it said. "We will retain our capital discipline," it added.

Despite the earnings decline, the utility company said it is proposing a dividend per share increase of 22% to 5.5 pence.

For 2026, the company is expecting its retail segment to post Ebitda in the range of 500 million to 800 million pounds, while optimization is expected to deliver Ebitda of around 250 million pounds. Ebitda for infrastructure is expected to land between the 500 million to 650 million pounds range, it said.

Write to Nina Kienle at nina.kienle@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

February 19, 2026 03:36 ET (08:36 GMT)

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