The CEO of Centrica, a widely renowned buyer of outsourcing, has announced that 6,000 jobs will be cut from the organisation by the close of 2017 as part of the group’s plans to focus on being “a customer-facing business”.

Iain Conn, who took over Centrica at the beginning of 2015, has seen British Gas’ profits reach £528 million during his six months in charge, already equalling profits achieved throughout 2014.

His intention is now to scale back operations in oil and gas exploration and production in the North Sea region, and concentrate instead on making Centrica an excellent supplier of energy and customer service, connecting homes and providing “smart” energy technologies.

5,000 of the job losses will take place in the UK; about half of the total number will be subject to redundancies. Conn added that 2,000 new jobs will also be created, making the net reduction of employees about 10 per cent of Centrica’s total work force.

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