Results round-up

British Gas owner Centrica said energy consumption has been lower than expected in the UK and North America so far in 2017 due to warmer than normal weather and that UK wholesale oil, gas and power prices have all fallen since it announced results in February.

But even though UK home energy supply accounts were down 261,000 in the year to date the FTSE 100 company insisted it remained on track to achieve the 2017 targets set out in its results announcement, and has continued to make "good progress" on its cost efficiency programme, including cutting its headcount by around 1,500 during the year.

Centrica said its continued focus on improving performance and cutting costs would "help mitigate the negative impact of these changes in the external environment".

The company confirmed net debt was still expected to be in the range of £2.5-3.0bn, which it previously said would be enough to see the restoration of a progressive dividend.

Chief executive Iain Conn added that good progress was also being made in implementing his customer-facing strategy.

The chief executive of construction and engineering group Costain, Andrew Wyllie, was set to confirm at the company's annual general meeting on Monday that current trading is in line with expectations.

"The board remains confident in the future and looks forward to reporting on further progress in 2017," the company said in a very brief statement ahead of the AGM.

Costain deploys technology-based solutions to meet urgent national needs across the UK's energy, water and transportation infrastructures.