21st May 2019 07:22
LONDON (Alliance News) - FTSE 100-listed water utility Severn Trent PLC boosted its dividend Tuesday after profit and revenue grew amid an improving operational performance.
For the financial year that ended in March, pretax profit widened 6.8% to GBP563.3 million from GBP527.2 million the year prior. This was after revenue rose 6.0% to GBP1.77 billion from GBP1.67 billion.
Capital spend in financial 2019 totalled GBP769 million.
"This has been a year where our teams have really stepped up, whether in response to customer needs in the face of one of the hottest and driest summers we've seen or by being named by Ofwat as one of the top companies in the sector when we received fast-track status for our future plans," Severn Trent Chief Executive Officer Liv Garfield said.
Severn Trent proposed a 56.02 pence per share final dividend, up 7.9% from 51.92p the year prior. For the full year, the dividend rose 7.9% to 93.37p from 86.55p the year before.
"At the heart of all of that is our drive to succeed for all of our stakeholders, which is shown in the results we're announcing today," Garfield added. "They demonstrate not only that we can deliver for our investors but also that we're putting ourselves at the heart of the communities in which we live and work by building a lasting legacy for future generations."
The firm explained that it saw "operational improvements" in the second half of financial 2019 which "gives confidence" for the new financial year and beyond. Severn Trent explained it expected to earn GBP25 million in financial 2020 from outperformance payments.
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