caused by the pandemic among Centrica's customers were expected to lead to bad debts. Analysts dropped their estimate of Centrica's earnings for 2020, 2021, and 2022 by 30%, and Centrica paused its search for a buyer for its 69% stake in Spirit Energy. The share price in April reached a record low of £0.30, valuing the company at less than half of its net debt of nearly £4bn. In June 2020, Centrica's shares were moved from the FTSE 100 to the FTSE 250 Index. The same month, the company announced that it would cut 5,000 jobs, half of them from leadership, management and corporate departments. In 2020 Centrica employed about 27,000 people, with 20,000 based in the UK. The employee cuts are to be a result of a restructuring plan designed to simplify and create a smaller group that is focused on delivery to their customers. British Gas engineers employed by Centrica began a strike in January 2021, which was extended into February, and was eventually called off by the GMB union after 44 days of strike action, after members endorsed a new pay deal. In July 2020, Centrica announced the sale of its subsidiary of Direct Energy in North America for $3.63 billion to NRG Energy, in order to put more focus into its home markets. The money from the sale is to be put to the reduction of net debt and to the contribution of pension plans. On 1 June 2022, it was announced that it will be promoted from the FTSE 250, and became a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index effective on 20 June. In February 2023, Centrica reported a large operating profit in 2022; it increased due to the jump in energy prices after the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Centrica's operating profit for 2022 was more than triple its profit for 2021. Operations Organisation Centrica's operations are principally the supply of electricity and gas to businesses and consumers in the United Kingdom. They are organised as follows: Retail operations, including British Gas which supplies gas, electricity, and services to residential customers, and to businesses under the British Gas Business brand Centrica Business Solutions, which partners with large businesses for energy supply and services such as renewable energy generation and electric vehicle charging Centrica Energy Trading, which trades gas, electricity and LNG, obtained from Centrica's own production and elsewhere Centrica ceased to own large power stations