· Keeping customers at the heart of our business:
− Delivering for customers: sewer flooding (down 34%), water quality complaints (down 12%) and serious pollution incidents (down 71%), but disappointing performance on supply interruptions
− Upper quartile position overall in the year in the UK Customer Service Index for utility companies
− Lowest bills in Britain: less than £1 per day at £348, and beating our target to help over 50,000 vulnerable customers
Group results from continuing operations
Underlying results
|
Year ended 31 March |
2018 |
2017 |
Increase |
|
|
|
(restated)9 |
|
|
|
£m |
£m |
% |
|
Group turnover |
1,694.1 |
1,638.0 |
3.4 |
|
Underlying group PBIT |
541.0 |
520.1 |
4.0 |
|
|
pence/ |
pence/ |
|
|
|
share |
share |
|
|
Underlying basic EPS |
121.0 |
115.7 |
4.6 |
|
Total ordinary dividends |
86.55 |
81.50 |
6.2 |
Reported results
|
Year ended 31 March |
2018 |
2017 |
Increase/ (decrease) |
|
|
|
(restated)9 |
|
|
|
£m |
£m |
% |
|
Group turnover |
1,694.1 |
1,638.0 |
3.4 |
|
Group PBIT |
528.4 |
536.7 |
(1.5) |
|
|
pence/ |
pence/ |
|
|
|
share |
share |
|
|
Basic earnings per share from continuing operations |
102.2 |
136.8 |
(25.3) |
· Delivering sustainable benefits for all stakeholders:
− Customer ODIs: strong service delivery earning a net outperformance payment of £80 million
− Efficiencies: Forecast AMP6 totex efficiencies increased from £770 million to £870 million. Choosing to reinvest the additional £100 million mainly in our Water business, to improve performance in preparation for AMP7
− Environmental performance: confident of achieving 4* status from the Environment Agency for 2017 and reaccredited to the Carbon Trust Standard. Renewables generation now at 38%
− An engaged workforce: six percentage point increase in our employee engagement score. Commenced investment in a training academy to deliver excellent training for our people
− Sale of property near Nottingham, providing land for 830 homes, generating £18.2 million PBIT in 2018/19 and helping to keep customers' bills low
− PR19: good progress on our PR19 business plan, ready for submission in September
· Strong group financial results:
− Group turnover of £1,694 million, an increase of £56 million (3.4%)
− Group underlying PBIT of £541 million, up £21 million (4.0%)
− Group reported PBIT of £528 million, down £8 million (1.5%)
− 2017/18 Return on Regulatory Equity (RoRE) of 11.5%7
− Underlying basic EPS of 121.0 pence (up 4.6%), reported basic EPS from continuing operations 102.2 pence (down 25.3%)
− Proposed final dividend of 51.92 pence, taking the 2017/18 dividend to 86.55 pence
Liv Garfield, Chief Executive, Severn Trent Plc, said:
“I'm pleased that keeping customers at the heart of our business and investing for the long term has continued to drive positive results. We've had another very strong year on customer ODIs, which we know are the metrics our customers care about most. This, allied with a strong set of financial results, and a backdrop of the lowest average combined bill in the land demonstrates our ability to deliver for our stakeholders in a balanced and sustainable way.
We anticipate receiving the top 4* rating from the Environment Agency for the second time in three years, which acknowledges the hard work and importance we place on protecting the environment. We are proud of the overall service we deliver for our customers but we know there are areas to improve. Our customers rightly expect excellence every day and that's what we will continue striving to achieve.
As such I'm pleased to announce plans to invest a further £100 million of totex efficiencies across our core assets and network for the benefit of our customers. This, coupled with our extensive customer engagement programme and performance track record, gives us confidence in our PR19 plan and optimism for the challenges of AMP7.”