United Utilities has delivered a rise in full year profit on the back of a strong operational performance, which fed through to the quality of service received by its customers.
Underlying operating profit for the period totalled £607.1m (2012: £594.1m), while underlying profit before tax rose to £354.3m (2012: £327.0m), reflecting the reduction in the mainstream UK corporation taxation rate.
Reported profit before tax came to £304.7m up from £280.4m a year earlier, on revenues of £1,636.0m (2012: £1,564.9m), which increased largely as a result of the impact of the regulated price increase for 2012/13 of 5.8% nominal - although this was partially offset by reduced volumes and the ongoing impact of customers switching to meters.
Subscribe to MoneyWeek
Subscribe to MoneyWeek today and get your first six magazine issues absolutely FREE
Sign up to Money Morning
Don't miss the latest investment and personal finances news, market analysis, plus money-saving tips with our free twice-daily newsletter
Don't miss the latest investment and personal finances news, market analysis, plus money-saving tips with our free twice-daily newsletter
The group issued a dividend of 34.32p for the 12-month period, up from 32.01p the previous year.
Steve Mogford, Chief Executive Officer, said: "Customer satisfaction with our service continues to improve, underpinned by strong operational and environmental performance. We are improving the quality and reliability of our infrastructure and, across the 2010-15 period, expect to reinvest around £200m of capital expenditure outperformance for the benefit of our customers and the environment.
"We accelerated our capital investment programme and invested £787m in the year, taking the total investment in our network, since the start of the regulatory period in 2010, to just over £2.0bn, providing an important contribution to the North West economy. We are delivering a smoother and more effective programme and we expect to invest around a further £800m in 2013/14."
The group also said it remains on track or ahead of schedule in meeting
its five-year regulatory outperformance targets.
Net debt at the year-end totalled £5,451m, compared with £5,076m at March 31st 2012.
Cash and cash equivalents declined to£ 182.5 from £312.1m a year earlier.
NR
-
Should you invest in UK equities?The FTSE 100 hit a record high this week, but UK equities remain unloved and undervalued compared to their global and US peers. Should you snap them up at a discount?
-
State pension errors: DWP urged to check for mistakes among divorced peopleFormer pensions minister Steve Webb says there are a high number of divorced women on low state pensions. Now MPs want the DWP to check if there were any errors in “potentially underpaying men and women who are divorced”.
