Market Round-up: The adventures of Cairn Energy in Greenland are kicking off, providing relief to some investors who feared the Gulf of Mexico disaster might force the campaign to be delayed... more
City folk gave a hesitant thumbs-up to the water industry regulator's new five-year pricing formula which has kept prices flat — but at least one big hitter is cautious about the prospects for utilities next year... more
Historically high household bad debts, falling consumption and dramatically changing weather patterns threatening supply and causing flooding are all reasons for not cutting water bills, Britain’s largest quoted water company has said... more
Water giants Severn Trent and United Utilities are set to be hit so hard by this week’s Ofwat price review that they will have to slash their dividends by a fifth... more
Given all the rain that has fallen during the past few days, it seems strange that shareholders of the main water utilities are bracing themselves for something of a drought as far as their fortunes are concerned in the years ahead ... more
As billionaires go, Warren Buffett is worth a bob or two. That’s probably why shares of his publicly listed vehicle Berkshire Hathaway are changing hands on Wall Street at more than $100,000 apiece ... more
During periods of economic upheaval utility companies are usually viewed by stock market investors as something of a safe haven, supplying increased profitability and regular dividends ... more
Goldman Sachs is the latest broker to warn of future dividend cuts following publication of the water industry regulator Ofwat’s draft tariff proposal for the next five years ... more
The water regulator today signalled the end of the good times for the water companies as an unexpectedly tough price-cap decision by Ofwat sent utilities shares tumbling ... more
It is hard to remember after the sun-drenched Wimbledon fortnight that the tournament is usually disrupted by at least one day of heavy rain, or that this time last year and in several previous years the coming of summer was marked in several parts of the country by severe flooding ... more
Severn Trent, the UK's second-largest water company, today reported a £25 million fall in profits and warned bad debts were on the rise because of recession ... more
There was no shortage of water in London’s streets today but that was not the reason Bank of America Merrill Lynch cut its rating on two of the four biggest suppliers of the wet stuff, Pennon and Northumbrian, from neutral to underperform before next month’s dividend reporting season... more
London yesterday to deliver the Stamp memorial lecture at the London School of Economics. What he said in answer to a question afterwards has a bearing on this key question... more
Utilities: Fines and settlements for regulatory breaches, rising bad debts, increased energy costs and more costly borrowing are weighing heavily on Severn Trent... more
The former Severn Trent executive at the centre of the water giant's conviction at the Old Bailey for lying to regulators has hit back at the company, saying it has left him implicated as being part of a criminal deception... more
Severn Trent has escaped with being fined just £2 million by an Old Bailey judge despite being found guilty of lying to regulators and misleading the stock markets... more
Exclusive: After high-profile allegations this season, Charlton's manager is pleased the issue is now being addressed but says the authorities still have plenty of work to do
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