Energy giant E.on has blamed the energy price cap for sending UK retail earnings crashing 78 per cent, as it also lost more customers.
The German-owned Big Six provider revealed underlying earnings at its UK household supply arm plunged to €12 million (£11 million) in the three months to June 30.
It reported an overall 12% drop in half-year underlying earnings to €1.72 billion (£1.58 billion).
It said it saw a fall in customer numbers in the first half, having earlier reported a drop of around 200,000 in the three months to March, from 6.6 million at the end of 2018.
READ MORE: Energy bills 'to be cut' as regulator lowers 'price cap'
The second quarter performance left overall first half underlying UK retail earnings 65% lower at €71 million (£65 million) in the first half of 2019, and E.on warned the price cap will leave annual earnings in the wider division "significantly below" the previous year.
E.on said the market was "particularly challenging" in the UK after the introduction of the price cap for default and standard variable tariffs in January.
The group said earnings at its customer solutions division, including its retail operations, nearly halved to €240 million (£221 million) in the six months to June 30 from €477 million (£439 million) a year earlier as this year's introduction of the default price cap took its toll.
Marc Spieker, chief financial officer at E.on, said: "The market in Great Britain is currently particularly challenging.
"But here we have already responded to the demanding environment with attractive new products and clear cost management."
Paddy Power owner Flutter blamed stricter regulations as it reported a dip in profits for the first half of the year, but reiterated its guidance for annual results.
The betting firm unveiled a 24% slide in pre-tax profits to £81 million for the six months to June 30, while underlying earnings fell 10% to £196 million.
READ MORE: William Hill to close 700 shops across UK
Flutter said a £47 million increase in taxes and duties had afffected its bottom line. Without this additional cost, underlying earnings would have grown by 15%.
The group posted an 18% uplift in revenue to £1.02 billion for the period.
The group's online, Australian and US divisions all showed revenue growth in the period, but its retail arm declined due to the UK Government's restrictions on betting machine stakes as well as a doubling of tax on sports betting in Ireland.
Flutter said it expected to ultimately grow market share.
Disney has revealed its net income fell 39% in the latest quarter, missing Wall Street expectations.
READ MORE: Avengers: Endgame topples Star Wars preview record
The US media giant posted third-quarter net income of $1.76 billion (£1.45 billion), down from $2.92 billion (£2.4 billion) a year ago, with the runaway success of box office hit Avengers: Endgame failing to offset the cost of its investment in its ESPN Plus and Disney Plus streaming services.
Excluding one-time items, net income totalled $1.35 per share.
Analysts surveyed by FactSet expected net income of $1.72 per share.
Shares fell by 3% in aftermarket trading. Revenue rose 33% to $20.2 billion (£16.6 billion), short of the $21.4 billion (£17.59 billion) analysts expected.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article