Express & Star

Severn Trent makes good start to the year

Water company Severn Trent, which serves millions of customers across the Midlands and Mid Wales, said it had made a “good start” to its financial year.

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Severn Trent engineer fixing pipes

The FTSE 100 firm also revealed it is on track to deliver its annual targets which were announced on May 21.

In its trading update for the period April 1 to July 17 it said it remained on track to deliver at least £25 million in customer ODI outperformance payments this year, with its customers seeing continued improvement in the areas that “matter most to them”.

Recently, however, Severn Trent Water was one of several water companies that were warned to clean up their act after the Environment Agency described their performance in 2018 as “simply unacceptable”.

A report published by the watchdog revealed that only one of the major water and sewage companies in England was performing at the level expected, while Severn Trent dropped from four stars to three stars – a level which means it must improve its performance.

“Overall, we have made a good start to the financial year and there has been no material change to current year business performance or outlook since the full-year 2018/19 results presentation on May 21 2019,” Severn Trent said.

“The board continues to expect that the group will deliver full-year trading performance in-line with its expectations and prior guidance.”

In the first three months of the fiscal year Severn Trent has generated 123Gwh from its own renewable sources, equivalent to 52 per cent of its energy needs, putting it in a strong position to exceed its 50 per cent target for the year.

“This is an important step in our triple carbon pledge for 2030, 20 years ahead of the recent government commitment,” it said.

Earlier this month, it announced further supplier partnerships for its Asset Management Plan (AMP7) capital programme, and has now recruited around 50 per cent of its in-house capital design team, ready for a fast start to AMP7.

It added: “Our raw water resources are in a healthy position as we head into the summer period, with our overall storage around 10 per cent higher than the same time last year.”