Thames Water saw 10% growth of its revenues to £2.4 billion in the 12 months to March 31, “reflecting an inflation-linked increase in our charges for water and wastewater services”, the beleaguered London water services supplier said in a trading statement today.
Underlying profit after tax was £140 million following a lossmaking prior year.
Yet its debt pile continued to climb, having exceeded £15 billion by the end of the period, up from below £14 billion in 2023.
But with liquidity at £1.8 billion, Thames Water said it has enough cash to “sufficiently fund our operations for the next 11 months”.
Thames Water’s debt pile has put it on the brink of a full-blown collapse.
In April, Thames Water told investors it was going to default on £400 million of bonds after missing an interest payment.
Thames Water’s bonds have since plummeted to just 5.8p on the pound.
“The challenges we face are well documented, but our operational and financial performance for the last year show good progress, and these positive results provide the right foundations on which to build and improve,” said chief executive Chris Weston.
The number of pollution incidents rose to 350 in the 2023 financial year (from 331 in the previous year), although the number of “serious” pollution incidents decreased by 18%.