United Utilities loses revenues and profits, but sees bright future
Written on May 26, 2011 by Douglas R
WARRINGTON water company United Utilities saw revenues and profits fall due to price cuts imposed by regulator Ofwat and the disposal of its non-regulated interests last year.
But new chief executive Steve Mogford delivered an upbeat assessment of UU’s prospects and plans for efficiency-driven savings, which he vowed would not impact on staffing levels.
Turnover fell from £1.57bn to £1.51bn in the year to March 31, and pre-tax profits decreased from £408.7m to £327.1m, although this was partly skewed by an £87m one-off pensions credit in the prior year.
However, Mr Mogford, who replaced Philip Green in March, reiterated the group’s strategy of paying shareholders dividends at 2% above inflation during the current five-year business period to 2015, and unveiled plans to make savings of £50m by 2015 to offset the effect of lower customer charges and its “downsizing” back to a purely water and wastewater company.
But he told LDP Business: “What we’re not looking at is another big redundancy programme or significant job losses as we go forward.”
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