Our purpose is to provide great water for a stronger, greener and healthier North West
This drives us to deliver our services in an environmentally sustainable, economically beneficial, and socially responsible manner and create sustainable long-term value for all.
Active engagement and strong constructive relationships help us understand and respond to the things that matter most to our stakeholders:
Colleagues
We create a great place to work for all our colleagues
Communities
We support communities to be stronger
Customers
We care for customers through building and maintaining trusted relationships
Environment
We protect and enhance the environment
Investors
We deliver sustainable returns to investors
Suppliers
We are innovating in partnership with our suppliers
Regulators
Through proactive, constructive engagement with economic, quality and environmental regulators, we understand requirements and deliver against commitments over specified time periods.
Politicians
Politicians influence the long-term national water strategy and environmental priorities, matters that affect how all businesses operate, and champion issues raised by their constituents
Media
The media is influenced by stakeholders’ interests, and in turn influences them through what it reports
Our purpose is to provide great water for a stronger, greener and healthier North West
This drives us to deliver our services in an environmentally sustainable, economically beneficial, and socially responsible manner and create sustainable long-term value for all.
Active engagement and strong constructive relationships help us understand and respond to the things that matter most to our stakeholders:
Colleagues
We create a great place to work for all our colleagues
Communities
We support communities to be stronger
Customers
We care for customers through building and maintaining trusted relationships
Environment
We protect and enhance the environment
Investors
We deliver sustainable returns to investors
Suppliers
We are innovating in partnership with our suppliers
Regulators
Through proactive, constructive engagement with economic, quality and environmental regulators, we understand requirements and deliver against commitments over specified time periods
Politicians
Politicians influence the long-term national water strategy and environmental priorities, matters that affect how all businesses operate, and champion issues raised by their constituents
Media
The media is influenced by stakeholders’ interests, and in turn influences them through what it reports
Chair's review
As we thank Steve Mogford for over 12 years of service to the company, we are excited to welcome Louise Beardmore as Chief Executive Officer. Having overseen the price review process since her appointment as CEO designate in May 2022, Louise is ensuring the company is mobilised and ready for the 2025–30 period. We have taken the opportunity to refresh the group’s purpose, strategic priorities, and core values to ensure these clearly reflect the key areas of focus in the current landscape, and our ongoing commitment to environmental, social and governance (ESG) matters. The water industry is facing a number of challenges and there is a need to restore public trust, but we are committed to continuing to drive improvements for customers, the environment, and all our stakeholders.
CEO's review
We have delivered our best ever performance for customers, having met or exceeded more of our performance commitments this year than ever before. We were once again the top performing listed company for customer satisfaction as assessed by Ofwat’s C-MeX measure. We have provided affordability support to more than 330,000 households so far in this regulatory period to support customers who are understandably struggling with cost of living pressures. We are acutely aware that this is a critical time for the water sector, with many challenges facing us, especially around river health. We have delivered significant environmental improvements in recent years in areas such as improving beaches, reducing pollution and reducing leakage, but we should all have acted sooner to recognise and address the impact of storm overflows.
Our operational key performance indicators
Delivering our purpose is about more than just providing customers with water and removing wastewater. Our operational key performance indicators (KPIs) provide an overview of how we are creating a stronger, greener and healthier North West.
Underlying operating profit
£441m
Behind expectation/ target
No externally disclosed target (see note 1)
Underlying earnings per share (EPS)
-1.3 pence
Behind expectation/ target
No externally disclosed target (see note 1)
Dividend per share
45.51 pence
Met expectation
Annual growth in line with CPIH inflation to 2025
Gearing: net debt to RCV
58%
Met expectation
55–65% gearing range
Total shareholder return
-1.5%
Close to meeting expectation/target
We assess our performance each year against listed peers in the utility sector and against the FTSE 100
Return on regulated equity
11.0%
Met expectation
Not externally disclosed
(Note 1) Underlying operating profit and underlying earnings per share are alternative performance measures that exclude adjusted items from their reported equivalents. Underlying operating profit excludes any significant nonrecurring items. Underlying EPS deducts underlying net finance expense, underlying share of joint venture losses, and underlying taxation from underlying operating profit to calculate underlying profit after tax, and divides this by the average number of shares in issue during the year. Underlying net finance expense makes adjustments including stripping out fair value movements. Underlying taxation strips out deferred tax (including any tax credits or debits arising from changes in the tax rate) and any exceptional tax.
Our financial key
performance indicators
Strong financial performance facilitates delivery of our purpose. Our financial key performance indicators (KPIs) include income statement, balance sheet, regulatory and investor return metrics to provide a snapshot of our performance for the year.
Underlying operating profit
£441m
Behind expectation/ target
No externally disclosed target (see note 1)
Underlying earnings per share (EPS)
-1.3 pence
Behind expectation/ target
No externally disclosed target (see note 1)
Dividend per share
45.51 pence
Met expectation
Annual growth in line with CPIH inflation to 2025
Gearing: net debt to RCV
58%
Met expectation
55–65% gearing range
Total shareholder return
-1.5%
Close to meeting expectation/target
We assess our performance each year against listed peers in the utility sector and against the FTSE 100
Return on regulated equity
11.0%
Met expectation
Not externally disclosed
(Note 1) Underlying operating profit and underlying earnings per share are alternative performance measures that exclude adjusted items from their reported equivalents. Underlying operating profit excludes any significant nonrecurring items. Underlying EPS deducts underlying net finance expense, underlying share of joint venture losses, and underlying taxation from underlying operating profit to calculate underlying profit after tax, and divides this by the average number of shares in issue during the year. Underlying net finance expense makes adjustments including stripping out fair value movements. Underlying taxation strips out deferred tax (including any tax credits or debits arising from changes in the tax rate) and any exceptional tax.
Building a stronger, greener, healthier North West – case studies
Integrated Annual Report
Strategic report
Governance
