UU maintains focus on core business

UNITED Utilities said that the company “continues to implement a wide range of business improvement initiatives” after selling off non-regulated assets to concentrate on its core business.

In a trading update this morning, the company said that the trend which saw it report a 4% increase in its half-year figures was “continuing”, although it expected to report higher levels of spending and depreciation in the second half of the ytear as it continued its capital investment programme and transferred private sewers to customers.

The company said that from April, it will be able to increase the regulated price charged for its services by 4.8%, in line with November’s figures.

UU said that it had moved four places up a league table published by regulator Ofwat, moving from ninth out of the ten major water companies up to fifth on Ofwat’s qualitative service incentive mechanism (SIM) assessment during the third quarter, although it remains in eighth position for the financial year overall.

It also said the number of official complaints made about it to the consumer council for water for the three months to December has also fallen.

It remains on track to meet regulatory leakage targets, and said that reservoir stocks currently stand at levels of around 90%, which is normal for this time of year.

The company said that it was “confident of delivering a good underlying financial performance for the year ending March 31.”