Water & Wastewater Treatment

4 | APRIL 2016 | WWT | www.wwtonline.co.uk Industry news April Severn Trent and United Utilities (UU) are joining forces for the non- household retail market, creating a joint venture (JV) offering water and related services to business customers. Based on the two companies' accounts, the joint venture would have had sales of £940.2M, gross assets of £200M and profit before tax of £9.7M for the year ended March 31, 2015. The chief executive of the joint venture will be Sue Amies-King, currently business retail director at UU, and the chief financial officer will be Stuart Howell, currently head of finance and business planning, business services at Severn Trent. Severn Trent will pay £3.5M on completion of the transaction in order to create a 50/50 JV and will share the cost of systems development. Severn Trent and UU to join forces on business retail Contract Tracker Northumbrian in joint tender for PE pipes Northumbrian Water, Wales and West Utilities and Northern Gas Networks Operations have issued a joint tender for the supply of polyethylene pipes and fittings for potable water and gas transportation. The framework is worth between £35M and £94M, and is for three to eight years depending on extension options. Up to ten suppliers are being sought for the contract. Servelec wins for AMP6 Technology group Servelec has announced project wins for its Technologies business worth between £5M and £10M during AMP6. The company has won a place on Southern Water's Real-Time Systems Framework. Scottish Water win for JVs Two joint ventures (JVs), ARC and m2, have been awarded the £120M contract to provide Scottish Water with technical consultancy support for its 2015-2021 investments. The deal has an option to extend until 2027. The two JVs, comprising Atkins and RPS (ARC), and MWH and Mott MacDonald (m2), form a framework of consultancy contractors that will provide support to Scottish Water and partners in the delivery of construction and maintenance projects. A"er completion, Severn Trent and UU will account for the JV, through share of profits of joint ventures, using equity accounting. The agreement is being widely seen as a defensive move a year before the introduction of non-household retail competition, both to help the water companies retain existing business customers and to create a strong retail arm should competition be extended further. The deal is subject to clearance from the Competition and Markets Authority, which Severn Trent and UU expect to obtain in the spring. Severn Trent chief executive Liv Garfield said: "I am delighted to be working with UU in creating this JV. The introduction of competition into the non-household retail market presents us with an exciting opportunity to combine our expertise for the benefit of customers and shareholders. The JV will provide non-household customers with an excellent retail choice as, together, we deliver a market leading offer and great service for customers across England and Scotland." UU chief executive Steve Mogford said: "We have been an early mover in building a strong non-household retail capability and have already established a sizeable presence in Scotland. This early progress, supported by our new customer relationship management system, means that we are well positioned for full market opening in England. The JV will combine the complementary skills and capabilities of UU and Severn Trent to improve our competitive offering for customers, increase efficiency and enhance value for shareholders." 2.1M The number of properties in the UK which are at risk of flooding by 2050 because of climate change, according to a CBI report on the priorities of the National Infrastructure Commission (NIC). BOWSER RELIEF: Ealing Council leader Julian Bell fills up a sachet of water from emergency bowsers supplied by Thames Water and Affinity Water outside Ealing Town Hall. The three 1,000-litre bowsers were part of an emergency planning exercise to see how water companies and local authorities could cope in an emergency cut to water supply.

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