United Utilities Group PLC Trading Statement (9314Z)
24 Settembre 2020 - 08:00AM
UK Regulatory
TIDMUU.
RNS Number : 9314Z
United Utilities Group PLC
24 September 2020
United Utilities Group PLC
24 September 2020
UNITED UTILITIES TRADING UPDATE
United Utilities announces the following trading update ahead of
its half year results on 25 November 2020.
Current trading is in line with the group's expectations for the
six months ending 30 September 2020.
COVID-19
Our focus throughout the COVID-19 pandemic continues to be on
supporting customers in the provision of essential services whilst
protecting our colleagues. Throughout the pandemic, we have
continued to supply drinking water, take away wastewater and carry
out essential repairs for over 3 million households in the North
West. We have also acted swiftly to support customers who are
struggling to pay their bills through our extensive financial
assistance schemes. Increasing numbers of vulnerable customers are
being supported through our Priority Services scheme.
Operational performance
Operational performance in the first half of the year is on
track against our AMP7 plan, notwithstanding the pandemic, and we
continue to target net outcome delivery incentive (ODI)
outperformance for the full year 2020/21.
We have been able to accelerate our capital expenditure profile
for AMP7 (compared with the assumed profile in the final
determination) to deliver benefits earlier than would otherwise be
the case, as was successfully achieved in AMP6.
Strong environment, social and governance (ESG) credentials
Earlier in September, we were pleased to be recognised for our
approach to sustainability: we are one of only eight UK listed
companies to be included in the Global Challenges Index (GCX) that
recognises the top 50 companies worldwide for their approach to
sustainability; and we achieved 11(th) position in EcoAct's FTSE100
leaderboard for how we report our sustainability performance. Also
in the month, we launched an investor guide(1) to our long-standing
commitment to ESG, detailing key achievements to date and our
ambitions for the future.
Financials
Cash collection from our household customer base has been
consistent with the targets that we set before the COVID-19
pandemic. Although we anticipate bad debt may increase as
government support schemes come to an end, we secured early
agreement during the pandemic to extend our social tariff and this,
combined with our extensive range of financial assistance schemes,
underpins our confidence in the adequacy of the provision we made
at the March 2020 year end.
Group revenue is expected to be lower than the first half of
last year, largely reflecting our allowed regulatory revenue
changes and lower consumption from businesses as a result of
COVID-19, partly offset by higher consumption from households.
Overall, the net reduction in revenue in the first half of the year
is expected to be around 5 per cent.
Underlying operating profit for the first half of 2020/21 is
expected to be lower than the first half of 2019/20 largely
reflecting the lower revenue and an anticipated moderate increase
in infrastructure renewals expenditure (IRE).
The rate of inflation that is applied to the group's
index-linked debt is lower for the first half of the year and we
therefore expect the underlying net finance expense for the first
half of 2020/21 to be around GBP30 million lower than the first
half of last year.
As the company continues to invest in its asset base we expect a
small increase in group net debt at 30 September 2020 compared with
the position as at 31 March 2020.
Our responsible approach to financial risk management continues
to deliver benefits, including a strong balance sheet, a stable
IFRS pension surplus and gearing within our target range of 55 per
cent to 65 per cent net debt to RCV, supporting a solid A3 credit
rating for United Utilities Water with Moody's.
(1)
https://www.unitedutilities.com/globalassets/documents/pdf/united-utilities-esg-booklet-2020.pdf
United Utilities contacts:
Gaynor Kenyon, Corporate Affairs Director +44 (0) 7753
622282
Robert Lee, Head of Investor Relations +44 (0) 1925 237033
Graeme Wilson, Tulchan Communications +44 (0) 20 7353 4200
LEI 2138002IEYQAOC88ZJ59
Classification - Trading update
This information is provided by RNS, the news service of the
London Stock Exchange. RNS is approved by the Financial Conduct
Authority to act as a Primary Information Provider in the United
Kingdom. Terms and conditions relating to the use and distribution
of this information may apply. For further information, please
contact rns@lseg.com or visit www.rns.com.
RNS may use your IP address to confirm compliance with the terms
and conditions, to analyse how you engage with the information
contained in this communication, and to share such analysis on an
anonymised basis with others as part of our commercial services.
For further information about how RNS and the London Stock Exchange
use the personal data you provide us, please see our Privacy
Policy.
END
TSTDZGZLVFMGGZM
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
September 24, 2020 02:00 ET (06:00 GMT)
Grafico Azioni United Utilities (LSE:UU.)
Storico
Da Feb 2024 a Mar 2024
Grafico Azioni United Utilities (LSE:UU.)
Storico
Da Mar 2023 a Mar 2024