Thames Water nearing the cliff edge.

[JohnD]

"The board of Thames Water, Britain’s largest water company, was locked in crisis talks on Wednesday after shareholders refused to confirm they would provide about £3bn of fresh equity that is necessary for its survival.

Thames Water, which provides water and sewage services to about a quarter of the UK population, needs shareholders to indicate they will stand by plans to inject additional equity but had not received their backing at the board meeting that was running into Wednesday evening, two people briefed on the situation said.

One person close to the talks said the situation was fluid and a company announcement could be made on Thursday.

Thames Water is trying to avoid going into the government’s special administration regime but ministers have been on standby for the possibility of its collapse.

The company is the most leveraged in the sector and has come under increasing financial strain as higher interest rates have raised the cost of servicing £18.3bn of group debt."

FT.com

 

[JohnD]

"Thames Water said its shareholders will no longer provide £500mn of fresh equity by the end of the month, intensifying fears over the future of the UK’s largest water company."

FT.com

Thurs 28 March

 

[JohnD]

"The Financial Times reported earlier this year that “Thames Water, the largest water monopoly, paid £37m of “internal dividends” to its parent company in the year to March 31 2022. “This was an increase from £33m in the previous 12 months, despite announcing that “external shareholders” had not received dividends for five years.”

 

[JohnD]

 

[JohnD]

"Analysis of the accounts of Thames Water between 1990 and 2022 reveal a story that is echoed to some degree across the industry. The figures show how privatisation – which was intended to lead to a new era of investment, improved water quality and low bills – turned water into a cash cow for investment firms and private equity companies, none more so than the Australian infrastructure asset management firm Macquarie which, with its co-investors, bought Thames Water in 2006 from the German utility firm RWE for £4.8bn."

 

[JohnD]

In charts: how privatisation drained Thames Water’s coffers

Decades of underinvestment and bumper dividends have left the firm debt-laden and under investigation

www.theguardian.com

 

[JohnD]

Do you think water companies should be nationalised and run in the public sector, or privatised and run by private companies? | Daily Question

Do you think water companies should be nationalised and run in the public sector, or privatised and run by private companies?

yougov.co.uk

 

[JohnD]

Rishi is hoping to delay renationalisation until after the election

When it will no longer be his problem.

 

[diy_fun_uk]

No core service should be in private hands, end of. OT but when referring to rail, folk keep on saying 'look at the mess BR made of it, no way we want to nationalise.' My take on that is in 2024, a nationalised rail service almost certainly wouldn't be any worse than current offerings.

 

[wobs]

No confidence that a change of government will make a jot of difference.

Since 2012, the EA's Environmental Protection resources have been cut by about 80%. They used to sample rivers and sewer discharges (and other discharges). They now rely of self monitoring by water companies for discharge analysis.

River and bathing water sampling has been cut to the bone, and we wonder why things are getting worse.

Turns out the market doesn't solve this problem.

 

[Brigadier]

They used to sample rivers and sewer discharges (and other discharges). They now rely of self monitoring by water companies for discharge analysis.

River and bathing water sampling has been cut to the bone, and we wonder why things are getting worse.

Indeed.

Even if they start out with the best of intentions, the private sector have to be "kept honest"; which is what external regulators - with claws - are there for.

Marking one's own homework is never a recipe for good practice, certainly not in the long-term.

 

[JohnD]

" Organisers of the Oxford-Cambridge Boat Race insist the event will go ahead as planned this weekend, despite warnings over high levels of “dangerous” pollution caused by sewage in the river Thames.

Campaign group River Action said this week it had found “alarmingly high levels of dangerous E. coli bacteria” along the stretch of the Thames between Putney and Mortlake where the men’s and women’s annual rowing competition takes place.

The group said its tests had shown levels of the bug 10 times higher than what is considered acceptable, and identified sewage released directly into the river and its tributaries by local utility Thames Water as the source of the problem."

FT.com

Pack your blazer, rubber gloves, facemask and biohazard suit.

If tossing your little cox in the water, use protection.

 

[JohnD]

Thames Water owners ready to throw in the towel.

"Thames Water shareholders signalled their readiness to take an estimated £5bn loss on their investment on Thursday as they ruled out injecting new equity into the troubled group.

Amid deepening uncertainty about Thames Water’s future, people close to the shareholders said many were preparing to write off as much as all their £5bn investment in the UK’s biggest water company.

The move dealt a blow to the group’s hopes of finding a way through its financial impasse. Thames Water needs billions of pounds to maintain operations and overhaul ageing infrastructure.

Its nine shareholders, which include Chinese and Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth funds, and UK and Canadian pension funds, said on Thursday the water company was “uninvestable” as they backtracked on a commitment to provide £500mn of equity this month.

One person close to the discussions said the shareholders’ decision was all but final. “There’s very little chance that they will come back from this,” added a banker close to the talks."

FT.com

 

[Brigadier]

Thames Water owners ready to throw in the towel.

They've done quite enough of throwing the sanitary towels in already

 

[ellal]

Its nine shareholders, which include Chinese and Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth funds, and UK and Canadian pension funds, said on Thursday the water company was “uninvestable” as they backtracked on a commitment to provide £500mn of equity this month.

One person close to the discussions said the shareholders’ decision was all but final. “There’s very little chance that they will come back from this,” added a banker close to the talks."

Most of the UK is "uninvestible'...

We all know the policies behind this state of affairs, and the economic suicide note voted in on June 23rd 2016 simply accelerated the demise!