Express & Star

Severn Trent half year profits rise

Published
Last updated

Water company Severn Trent has reported a good start to its year with pre-tax profits up 35.8% to £186.2 million.

more

Group turnover was flat year-on-year at £896.1m for the six months to the end of September.

Chief executive Liv Garfield said: "I am pleased to report strong progress in the first half of the year, marking a good start to the new regulatory period.

"As we continue to become an even more customer focused business we have delivered some great improvements, evidenced by the decline in customer complaints, and we continue to have the lowest combined bills in Britain."

The group, which serves 4.3 million home and business customers across the Midlands, says its average annual bill is £329.

Mrs Garfield said Severn Trent was committed to delivering continued outperformance for the benefit of its customers, colleagues and shareholders

"Through more intensive management of our network we are seeing reduced supply interruptions, lower sewer flooding incidents and faster incident response times. Our renewable energy programme continues its rapid roll out and we are on track to generate the equivalent of 50% of our energy needs by 2020," she added.

A number of initiatives have been launched to keep customers informed, including new digital services, Track My Job and In My Street, a 24/7 Twitter channel and web chat for customer contact.

Overall complaints reduced by 35% in the half year.