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☆ British water companies face $1 bln lawsuits over pollution - law firm
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-08 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Environmental and water consultant Carolyn Roberts, who plans to bring the claims, says water companies would have faced penalties if they had properly reported pollution incidents. The firm said it will also be filing cases against five other companies – Thames Water, United Utilities, Anglian Water, Yorkshire Water and Northumbrian Water – in the coming months. Water companies have pushed back against the proposed claims, describing them as "highly speculative". A Thames Water spokesperson said the company was aware of the potential claim, which they said was without merit. Water companies have avoided being penalised by regulator Ofwat for "serial and serious under-reporting" of pollution incidents, she said in a statement.

Persons: Trent, Darren Staples, Carolyn Roberts, Roberts, Leigh Day, Severn, Sam Tobin, Bernadette Baum Organizations: REUTERS, Severn Trent, United Utilities, Yorkshire Water, Environment Agency, Water, Thomson Locations: Cropston, England, British, United, Water, Yorkshire, United States

LONDON, July 10 (Reuters) - Thames Water has become the poster child for a British water industry under fire for its poor environmental record and financial mismanagement. After a period as a listed company, Thames Water was acquired by German utility RWE (RWEG.DE) in 2001. Thames Water said on Monday they would provide 750 million pounds, and added it had strong liquidity of 4.4 billion pounds. FINANCESNearly 60% of Thames Water's debt is index-linked, according to ratings agency Standard & Poor's, saddling it with higher repayments as inflation soars. Thames Water was fined 3.3 million pounds last week, while Southern Water was fined 90 million pounds in 2021.

Persons: Margaret Thatcher's, Australia's Macquarie, Abu, Hermes, Ofwat, Sarah Young, Chiara Elisei, Emelia Sithole Organizations: Margaret Thatcher's Conservative, Water, Thames, Ontario, BT, China Investment Corp, Thames Water, Macquarie, Yorkshire Water, Severn Trent, United Utilities, The Times, Environment Agency, Southern Water, Thomson Locations: Britain, Here's, Abu Dhabi, Thames, Southern Water, United, England

☆ UK FTSE 100 at three-month low as rate hike worries grip; Currys slumps
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-06 | by ( Shashwat Chauhan | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

The blue-chip FTSE 100 (.FTSE) fell 1.2%, hitting its lowest level since March 24. Currys (CURY.L) tumbled 13.3% to its lowest level in more than 20 years after the electricals retailer reported a 38% slump in full-year profit. The commodity-heavy UK benchmark has been underperforming its peers this year amid volatility in resource prices over an uncertain global outlook. Among individual stocks, United Utilities (UU.L) climbed 1.8% after Morgan Stanley raised the water utility firm's rating to "overweight" from "equal-weight." Reporting by Shashwat Chauhan in Bengaluru; Editing by Dhanya Ann ThoppilOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: tanked, Chris Beauchamp, Beauchamp, Morgan Stanley, Shashwat Chauhan, Dhanya Ann Thoppil Organizations: United Utilities, P, FTSE, U.S, U.S . Federal, IG Group, HSBC, Standard Chartered, Prudential, CAB, Thomson Locations: China, U.S, U.S ., Bengaluru

☆ UK’s leaky water model faces a growing storm
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-05 | by ( Neil Unmack | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +8 min

The fallout raises two big questions: whether the regulatory regime works, and whether Britain’s water companies should still be privately owned. Average UK water bills are 448 pounds in the current year, versus 409 pounds in Scotland. One option would be to squeeze water companies – cutting allowed prices, and imposing bigger penalties on those that allow leaks. For the sector as a whole, Ofwat assumes equity comprises 45% of water companies’ 94 billion pound RCV, or 42 billion pounds. Reuters Graphics Reuters GraphicsFollow @Unmack1 on TwitterCONTEXT NEWSThames Water investors have become more “concerned” about the company’s turnaround, the chief executive of UK water regulator Ofwat David Black told a UK parliament committee on July 4.

Persons: Macquarie’s, Severn, Ofwat, Jefferies, David Black, Iain Coucher, “, Black, George Hay, Oliver Taslic Organizations: Reuters, Conservative, Thames, Ofwat, Reuters Graphics Regulators, Yorkshire Water, United Utilities, Scottish, Dwr Cymru, Barclays, Reuters Graphics Reuters, Thames Water, Water, Sky News, Thomson Locations: Severn Trent, RCV, Water, Wales, Scotland, Germany, United States, Italy, Ireland, Britain

DIRTY BEACHESClean water campaign groups accuse the water companies of failing to invest in infrastructure. She was replaced by two co-chief executives, Chief Finance Officer Alastair Cochran and former Ofwat boss Cathryn Ross, who has been at Thames Water since 2021. Jefferies analysts said Britain's listed water operators Severn Trent (SVT.L), Pennon Group (PNN.L) and United Utilities (UU.L) were better capitalised than Thames Water, but the issues with the largest company meant a "heightened regulatory environment". Daily headlines about rivers and beaches polluted by sewage released by water companies look set to turn water into a major issue at the next general election, expected next year. Thames Water said in its annual report in October that it had not paid a dividend to its shareholders for the last five years.

Persons: Rishi Sunak's, Jeremy Hunt, Sarah Bentley, Alastair Cochran, Cathryn Ross, Alix, Ofwat, Australia's Macquarie, Sarah Young, Paul Sandle, Radhika Anilkumar, David Evans, Mark Potter Organizations: Company, British, Sky News, Conservatives, Thames, Times, Ontario, China Investment Corp, Water, Alix Partners, Daily Telegraph, Jefferies, Trent, Pennon, United Utilities, Environment Agency, Financial Times, Thomson Locations: England, Wales, Britain, Thames

☆ Explainer: The business of water: no one-size-fits-all approach
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-22 | by ( Isla Binnie | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

PUBLIC-PRIVATE PARTNERSHIPSA group of experts established by the Dutch government is proposing "Just Water Partnerships" in which development finance institutions would invest alongside private firms to improve water systems in lower-income countries. One of those, the Calvert Global Water Fund, tracks the performance of an index of companies that "are offering products or services that are part of a solution to global water challenges," said portfolio manager Jade Huang. "There is no one-size-fits-all approach that can help to approach the many aspects of dealing with water challenges," Huang added. Lance Coogan, who developed that concept for water price indexing, describes it as "the volume-weighted average of the actual water transactions that are taking place". How can you have those things without having the water price?"

☆ UBS reveals global stocks that will win — or lose — when China reopens
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-01 | by ( Ganesh Rao | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

But when they do, Swiss bank UBS has identified stocks in the MSCI Europe index that will do better than others "in an environment where China's growth rebounds." The investment bank screened for companies in Europe that meet the following criteria: A high percentage of sales exposure to China. The stocks in the table below have been ranked using UBS' composite score, which brings together the above factors. London-listed engineering groups IMI and Weir Group and Asia-focused bank Standard Chartered were among the top 15 stocks with high exposure to China, according to UBS. According to UBS, shares of chemicals and specialty materials companies BASF , Solvay , Arkema and Sika are also exposed.

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