H1 2012/13 FINANCIAL HIGHLIGHTS
- Profit before tax up 3.4% to 111.1m
- South West Water up 10.0% to 83.8m
- Viridor down 26.5% to 22.5m
- Earnings per share before deferred tax up 3.4% to 24.3p
- Dividend: Interim dividend per share up 6.6% to 8.76p
- Capital investment up 88% to 188m
- Includes 4 EfWs under construction
- Substantial cash resources and committed funding
- 85m new/refinanced facilities since 31 March 2012
- 995m cash/committed facilities at 30 September 2012
Ken Harvey, Chairman said:
"We announced on 15 November that trading in Viridor has been significantly below the high level of last year's first half with recyclate prices remaining under pressure reflecting world economic and market conditions. Viridor is responding to the near-term challenges and has recovered about half of the impact of the reduction in recyclate prices through the terms of customer supply contracts and cost reductions. We remain cautious about the future prospects for recyclate prices. We have, however, made further strong progress on our PPP and EfW pipeline this half year which will form the basis for future growth.
"South West Water is continuing its strong operational performance against the 2010-2015 regulatory contract with further advances in operating efficiency and customer service. Despite the wettest summer in 100 years impacting customer demand and operating costs, the company's profit before tax has increased through rigorous cost control, efficiency delivery and stable interest costs.South West Water was unable to consent to Ofwat's licence change proposals but has responded constructively on how its concerns can be addressed.
"Notwithstanding current challenges, the Group has delivered increased overall profit before tax for the first half year and an increase in dividend in line with our stated policy."
