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Britain's Thames Water plans 'radical' turnaround
Britain's Thames Water plans 'radical' turnaround
by AFP Staff Writers
London (AFP) Dec 5, 2023

Thames Water on Tuesday pledged a "radical" turnaround but warned it would take time to deliver change after announcing a slump in profits and mounting debt during its first half.

Profit after tax tumbled 57 percent to 172.3 million pounds ($218 million) in the six months to the end of September despite an emergency financial rescue, Britain's biggest water supplier said in a results statement.

Net debt grew seven percent to 14.74 billion pounds for the company that supplies more than 16 million homes and businesses in London and elsewhere in southern England.

"Our financial performance... needs to improve. It is clear that immediate and radical action is required," group interim Co-CEOs Cathryn Ross and Alastair Cochran said in Tuesday's statement.

However, they warned that "turning around Thames will take time. We simply cannot do everything that our customers and stakeholders wish to see at a pace and for a price that everyone would like".

The pair replaced Sarah Bentley, who resigned in June.

The following month, Thames announced a significant financial injection from shareholders that kept it afloat.

On the eve of Tuesday's results update, auditors warned that the company risked running out of money by April without further financial support.

Thames, reported to have been at risk of renationalisation without July's bailout, saw shareholders provide funding worth 750 million pounds.

However, it fell short of the 1 billion pounds the group sought on top of 500 million pounds secured from shareholders in March.

Thames has noted that it would need a further 2.5 billion pounds of support between 2025 and 2030.

- Environmental fallout -

The indebted company and its peers in England and Wales have announced plans to nearly double infrastructure investment as they seek to reduce leaks and cut river sewage, triggering higher bills for customers.

Companies will together spend 96 billion pounds on water and sewage infrastructure between 2025 and 2030, a 90 percent increase on the current five-year period.

Thames Water co-CEOs on Tuesday acknowledged that "performance needs to improve, including some areas of operational and environmental performance that matter most to our customers and communities".

UK regulators recently ordered water companies in England and Wales to return a combined 114 million pounds to customers for failing to meet performance targets, including over river pollution.

Thames Water was ordered to return the highest amount at 101 million pounds.

The British government in July announced that any company or individual polluting the country's rivers and other ecosystems would be liable for unlimited fines.

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