Revenues at water and sewage services group United Utilities edged higher in the first half, helped by regulated price increases.
Turnover came in at £823m in the six months to the end of September, up from £793m the year before. However, this missed the £835m consensus forecast.
Nevertheless, the company said that the £30m year-on-year growth was down to regulated prices increases for 2012/13 of 5.8% nominal (0.6% real price increase plus 5.2% RPI inflation), however this was partially offset by reduced commercial volumes and lower property sales associated with the water business.
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Underlying pre-tax profit came in £190m, up 3% year-on-year and slightly higher than the £188m analyst estimate. This was down to a lower net finance expense (reflecting lower RPI inflation), which outweighed a reduction in underlying operation profit.
Chief Executive Steve Mogford said: "The recent progress we have made reinforces our confidence in delivering our 2010-15 regulatory outperformance targets. Alongside our operational and customer service improvements, we have delivered another good financial performance despite a tough economic environment."
Gearing (measured as group net debt to regulatory capital value) was at 60% at the end of the period, within Ofwat's assumed range of 55% to 65%, "supporting a solid investment grade credit rating", the comp y said.
The firm declared an interim dividend of 11.44p per share, up 7.2% on last year's payment and in line with its dividend policy of targeting a growth rate of RPI+2% per annum through to at least 2015.
BC
