Northumbrian Water Group PLC
06 February 2008
6 February 2008
Northumbrian Water Group plc
("the Company")
Interim Management Statement
The Company is today publishing its Interim Management Statement for the period
1 October 2007 to 5 February 2008.
The Board confirms that trading has been in line with expectations and that
there have been no material events or transactions during the period.
Operating costs continue to be a key focus for the business and we expect to
outperform the Ofwat efficiency target for 2007/08. However, as reported
previously, rising energy prices for 2008/09 will largely remove the benefit of
lower energy costs experienced in the current year.
Capital investment is continuing to plan with further investment to reduce the
risk of sewer flooding and improving water quality. For the regulated business,
forecast capital investment by 2007/08 on a cumulative basis continues to be in
line with the capital programme approved by Ofwat for the period from 2005 to
2010. Gearing levels remain unchanged with net debt approaching £2.2bn by March
2008.
We published our Strategic Direction Statements entitled 'Looking to the Future'
on 28 November 2007. Separate statements were published for our northern and
southern operating areas. These are available on our websites (www.nwl.co.uk/
www.eswater.co.uk). Later this month, we have arranged multi-stakeholder
seminars in both of our operating areas to discuss these documents and their
impact.
Our water resource position remains strong with combined storage at our Abberton
and Hanningfield reservoirs in Essex currently above the long term average. The
planning application to increase the capacity of Abberton was submitted on 14
December and a decision from the local planning authorities is expected by early
summer 2008.
Ofwat published its methodology consultation paper for the next Price Review in
October 2007. It proposes a number of significant changes and our response to
Ofwat is available on our websites.
Outlook
The Group continues to deliver good performance and we are confident of meeting
our regulatory outputs for the year whilst maintaining good customer levels of
service. The preliminary results for the year ending 31 March 2008 will be
announced on 4 June 2008.
For further information contact:
Northumbrian Water 0191 301 6419
John Cuthbert, Managing Director
Chris Green, Finance Director
Alistair Baker, Communications & PR Manager
Pelham PR 020 7743 6679
James Henderson
Chelsea Hayes
Archie Berens
Note:
Information in this announcement is based upon unaudited management accounts.
This announcement includes certain forward looking statements which are based on
current expectations and are subject to uncertainties and risks that could cause
actual results to differ materially from any expected future events or results
referred to in these forward looking statements. Unless otherwise required by
applicable law, regulation or accounting standard, we do not undertake any
obligation to update or revise any forward looking statements, whether as a
result of new information, future developments or otherwise.
This information is provided by RNS
The company news service from the London Stock Exchange
*A Private Investor is a recipient of the information who meets all of the conditions set out below, the recipient:
Obtains access to the information in a personal capacity;
Is not required to be regulated or supervised by a body concerned with the regulation or supervision of investment or financial services;
Is not currently registered or qualified as a professional securities trader or investment adviser with any national or state exchange, regulatory authority, professional association or recognised professional body;
Does not currently act in any capacity as an investment adviser, whether or not they have at some time been qualified to do so;
Uses the information solely in relation to the management of their personal funds and not as a trader to the public or for the investment of corporate funds;
Does not distribute, republish or otherwise provide any information or derived works to any third party in any manner or use or process information or derived works for any commercial purposes.
Please note, this site uses cookies. Some of the cookies are essential for parts of the site to operate and have already been set. You may delete and block all cookies from this site, but if you do, parts of the site may not work. To find out more about the cookies used on Investegate and how you can manage them, see our Privacy and Cookie Policy
To continue using Investegate, please confirm that you are a private investor as well as agreeing to our Privacy and Cookie Policy & Terms.