British Gas owner Centrica made record profits last year, with its adjusted operating profit of £3.3bn well ahead of analyst estimates.

The company is also rewarding its shareholders with a dividend of 2p a share and plans to extend its £250m share buyback programme by an additional £300m.

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What happened overnight 

Stocks in Asia rose adding fuel to a global equity rally that appeared to shrug off the prospect of higher interest rates following strong economic data from the US.

Equities in Australia, South Korea, Japan and China gained ground, pushing a gauge of the region's stocks toward its best day in a month. 

The advance for Hong Kong shares snapped a four-day run of declines as JD.com, Tencent and Alibaba rose.

Tokyo stocks ended higher, with investors encouraged by rallies on Wall Street and a weaker yen against the dollar.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 index closed up 0.7pc at 27,696.44, while the broader Topix index added 0.7pc to 2,001.09.

Wall Street's main indexes closed higher as investors bet that the US Federal Reserve is unlikely to cut rates by the end of the year, but will instead keep the dollar stronger for longer to help fight inflation.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed up 0.1pc at 34,128.05. The broad-based S&P 500 finished 0.3pc higher at 4,147.6, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite climbed 0.1pc to 12,070.59.

The dollar also surged against the pound, while yields climbed 3.8pc for 10-year Treasury bonds to 3.799pc.