LONDON, Jan 12 (Reuters) – Two of Britain’s biggest
utilities, Centrica and SSE, said on Thursday
they would cut energy prices, a day after EDF Energy
became the first of the UK’s ‘big six’ energy suppliers to bring
down tariffs.

SSE said it would cut prices of household gas by 4.5 percent
from March 26 and extend its commitment to cap household
electricity and gas prices by another two months to October.

LONDON, Dec 15 (Reuters) – British technology
developer Pursuit Dynamics announced a
deeply-discounted cash call to shareholders, a wider annual loss
and the departure of its chief executive, sending its shares
plunging to a 2-1/2 year low on Thursday.

The firm said it needed the 9.4 million pounds ($14.5
million) it hoped to raise to fund the commercialization of its
portfolio, which includes technologies for saving energy and
speeding up mixing and heating processes.

LONDON, Dec 8 (Reuters) – Russian power grid company
MRSK (MRKH.MM: Quote, Profile, Research) (MRKHxq.L: Quote, Profile, Research) is looking for acquisitions in Eastern
Europe, a top executive said on Thursday, after the company
completed its London listing.

“Acquisitions are a part of our strategy,” chief financial
officer Alexey Demidov told Reuters in an interview. “We are
interested in some Eastern European companies, and also in CIS.”

LONDON, Dec 7 (Reuters) – British transport group
Stagecoach should have a stronger second half as its
East Midlands rail unit returns to profitability, after a loss
at the franchise weighed on first-half profit.

The bus and rail operator said on Wednesday its British rail
business swung to a first-half loss following weak trading at
the East Midlands franchise, leading to an 18 percent drop in
group profit.

LONDON, Dec 5 (Reuters) – British utility Centrica
has signed a memorandum of understanding to look at
joint investment opportunities with Qatar Petroleum, two weeks
after announcing a billion pound deal to buy a string of assets
from Norwegian group Statoil.

Centrica said on Monday investment targets will include new
or existing projects in upstream oil and gas including LNG, gas
storage as well as combined-cycle gas turbine generation assets
and downstream opportunities.

LONDON, Nov 23 (Reuters) – United Utilities,
Britain’s largest listed water utility, reported a dip in
first-half profits on Wednesday, which it blamed on capital
spending.

“We have continued to make high levels of capital investment
in our assets in driving the resilience of our network and we
remain on course to invest up to 700 million pounds in the full
year,” Chief Executive Steve Mogford said on Wednesday.

LONDON, Nov 17 (Reuters) – British Gas owner Centrica
issued a profit warning, saying customers were shopping
elsewhere following price hikes and using less electricity and
gas due to economic uncertainty and warmer weather.

The utility, whose British Gas unit is the UK’s biggest
household energy supplier, said customer churn had risen since
it raised prices by as much as 18 percent and that account
numbers had dipped since the start of the year to 15.9 million.

LONDON (Reuters) – India-based biofuel producer Nandan Cleantec expects to grow sales by at least 25 percent every year till 2014-15, on the back of strong demand for its high yielding variety of oilseeds, a top executive said.

Nandan develops hybrid varieties of Jatropha, an oilseed plant with a high oil yield and an ability to grow on marginal land. Trading in the company’s stock started in London on Wednesday. Its shares were placed at 60 pence apiece, raising 16.1 million pounds and valuing the company at 166.1 million.

LONDON, Nov 10 (Reuters) – British industrial materials
group Cookson said its second-half results would be hit
by a slowdown in global steel production, particularly in
Europe.

Cookson, whose products are used in the glass and solar
industries as well as by steelmakers and foundries, said on
Thursday its second-half performance would likely be slightly
below first half levels.

LONDON/PRAGUE (Reuters) – Three of Europe’s largest utilities, buoyed by government support, expect renewable energy sources plus ongoing cost cuts to help them weather higher wholesale gas purchasing prices and support earnings for the current financial year.

The world’s number one utility by sales, Germany’s E.ON reported Wednesday it produced 7 percent more green power than a year ago while central Europe’s biggest listed company, the Czech Republic’s CEZ, added its renewable power production remained stable.