15th Aug 2007 07:01
Pennon Group PLC15 August 2007 15 August 2007 PENNON GROUP PLC INTERIM MANAGEMENT STATEMENT Pennon Group Plc today reports in respect of the period since 31 March 2007 todate and can confirm that trading is in line with management expectations. The Group's share buyback programme continues to return value to shareholderswith a further £26.0m of shares repurchased since our Preliminary Results wereannounced on 31 May 2007. To date, the Group has repurchased 5.06m shares at atotal cost of £29.5m. South West Water is now in the third year of the K4 period (2005 - 2010) andremains on target to meet the current regulatory contract. The very wet weatherhas had a beneficial effect on reservoir levels (which were at 94.5% capacity at31 July, compared to 69.6% the prior year), but also impacted demand, which waslower than the equivalent period the previous year. The South West has not,however, suffered the extensive flooding experienced elsewhere in the country asa result of the extreme weather conditions. As outlined at our Preliminary Results in May, Viridor is confident ofdelivering continued full year growth in operating profit before intangibles.Financial performance to date has been consistent with that statement. Withregard to the Greater Manchester PFI contract, final negotiations are underwayand the contract is due to commence in the current financial year. Pennon intends to announce its Half Year Results on Thursday, 29 November 2007. For further information, please contact: Pennon David Dupont - Group Director of Finance 01392 443998Jo Finely - Investor Relations Manager 01392 443401 Finsbury Mark Harris 0207 251 3801Sally Hogan www.pennon-group.co.uk End transmission This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock ExchangeRelated Shares:
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