Utility Week

UTILITY WEEK | 1ST - 7TH DECEMBER 2017 | 11 This week Severn Trent to sell spare land for homes Pledge to share part of profits with customers as company reports 3.7 per cent rise in turnover Severn Trent will sell off its surplus land to help the UK's housing market, with the water company pledging to share a proportion of profits from the sale with customers. The company outlined its plans as it released half-year financial results for the six months to 30 September 2017. It reported a 3.7 per cent rise in turnover to £850.4 million, while group underlying profit before interest and tax rose 4.4 per cent to £278.8 million. Severn Trent said it had the lowest average combined water and sewerage bills in Britain, at £341. Speaking to Utility Week, chief executive Liv Garfield said: "I am most pleased with our customer service improvements." She highlighted the company's perfor- mance in its outcome delivery incentives (ODIs), includ- ing a 38 per cent reduction in internal sewer floodings and a 50 per cent decrease in external floodings. "This is important to us as it shows we are working hard on things customers are really passionate about," she added. "The outperformance measures are custom- ers telling us if you do anything, these are the types of things we would like to see." Garfield told Utility Week she was pleased with the company's financial performance for the first half of the year but stressed it was an "outcome" of how the busi- ness is run and not a "desire". She said she wanted to create the "right efficient business for the future". Severn Trent invested £324 million in the first half of financial year 2017/18 for network improvements. KP PAN-UTILITY MPs launch green finance inquiry MPs are to examine the govern- ment's strategy on green finance and how the Green Investment Group can fulfil the commit- ments made by its new owners. The Environmental Audit Committee last week announced details of its new inquiry, which will examine a series of issues around the government's strat- egy to develop "world-leading" green finance capabilities. Among the issues the inquiry will consider is whether the Green Investment Group (formerly the Green Investment Bank) is fulfilling commitments made by its new owners, the Macquarie Group. The government completed the bank's sale in August for £2.3 billion to a consortium of investors led by Macquarie. In response to fears about its future raised by the Committee, minis- ters created a "special share" to protect its green purposes. The inquiry will also examine the government's Clean Growth Strategy and how it will acceler- ate clean growth. WATER United Utilities has 'strong' start to year United Utilities has reported a 10 per cent increase in profit to £344 million for the first half of the year, supported by a com- bination of regulatory changes, property sales and cutting costs. The water company's revenue also rose by 2.7 per cent to £876 million for the six months ending 30 September, according to results published last week. Total regulatory capital investment was £394 million for the period and the firm said it is on track to spend £800 million for the full year, including infra- structure renewals expenditure. United Utilities chief execu- tive Steve Mogford told Utility Week: "The company has gone from somewhat of a sleeping giant a few years ago to one of the leaders in the industry." ELECTRICITY Centrica's nuclear stake open for bids Centrica chief executive Iain Conn has revealed it is open to bids for its 20 per cent stake in the UK's fleet of eight nuclear power stations, according to reports. The admission came aer Centrica's share price plunged to its lowest level in 14 years last week. Traders were responding to the news that British Gas had lost 823,000 domestic energy supply accounts over the three months to the end of September. "If someone came along and said, 'We are really interested in [the nuclear stake]', we would consider it," Conn told The Sunday Times. Garfield: pleased about better customer service Stock watch 1,100 1,000 900 800 700 UNITED UTILITIES SHARES, FIVE DAY Jan 2017 Mar May Sep Nov UNITED UTILITIES SHARES, FULL YEAR United Utilities' stock price has risen aer the firm reported a 10 per cent increase in operating profit for the six months to the end of September. At the time of going to press, the shares were trading at around 806p – a gain of more than 5 per cent since the results were revealed. Ahead of the announcement, they were trading at their lowest level in more than three years. 810 800 790 780 770 760 23 Nov 24 Nov 27 Nov 28 Nov Finance & Investment Jul

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