Nov. 25, 2000 (The Northern Echo)—Three water companies will demonstrate the impact from new regulatory price controls when they report interim figures next week.
Pennon Group, United Utilities and Severn Trent are all expected to reveal leakages in pre-tax profits following controls imposed by water regulator OFWAT in April.
The top fallers should be Pennon, formerly South West Water, which is line for a drop of 43 per cent to 35m when it reports on Thursday.
On the same day, the owner of North West Water, United Utilities is likely to announce a fall of 26 per cent to 172m, while Severn Trent goes to the City on Tuesday with a predicted 34 per cent drop, from 169m to 112m. Analysts will want to discover how much progress all three companies have made in cost cutting and their progress in creating non-regulated business activities.
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