Severn Trent reassured shareholders yesterday that it had delivered a satisfactory first-half performance and was on track to meet its expectations for the full year.
The Birmingham-based company said it was benefiting from a 15.2 per cent rise in prices imposed by the industry regulator on April 1.
Operating costs were being "well managed" in line with the new fiveyear asset management plan called AMP4 drawn up by Ofwat to boost efficiency, give better value to customers and improve environmental standards.
Severn Trent, which is investing £ 2.3 billion under AMP4, said in a preclose period trading statement that it had budgeted £36 million to overhaul some if its 6,200-miles West Midland network during the half year that ended on September 30, and that it expected this to make up around a third of total spending for the year.
Net debt at the half year is expected to be about £3 billion, the company said.
