Centrica Business chief executive announces retirement

During his tenure, Hanafin, who joined Centrica in 2008 as the managing director of its Centrica Energy business, has seen Centrica through an enormous amount of change and has had "a major impact" on building the company's capabilities.

Since Centrica's strategic review in 2015, Mark also led the establishment of the FTSE 100-listed firm's distributed energy and power wing and further growth in its energy marketing and trading unit.

In early 2017, Hanafin became chief executive of Centrica Business, the firm's global division focused on delivering energy supply, wholesale energy, energy insight, energy optimisation and energy solutions to business customers through a newly-developed integrated solutions platform.

A process to appoint Hanafin's successor has begun. Mark will then step down from the Centrica board when a successor is in place and after an appropriate handover.

Iain Conn, the group's chief executive, said, "Mark was a major influence on Centrica's strategic review in 2015 and has been an invaluable member of my team since I joined the group at the end of 2014, providing wise advice and support to me and to the Centrica executive team overall."

"I have very much enjoyed working with Mark and will miss his considerable experience after he leaves next year. I wish Mark and his family all the very best for the future," added Conn.

As of 1100 BST, Centrica shares had ticked ahead 0.54% to 161.61p.