United Utilities revenue expected to remain flat, profit to dip

LONDON (ShareCast) - (ShareCast News) - United Utilities (LSE: UU.L - news) has announced group revenue for the six months to 30 September is likely to remain flat. The FTSE 100 listed group released a trading update on Wednesday, and said the impact of lower regulated revenue is offset by slightly higher non-regulated sales.

Profit for the period is also due to dip lower than a year ago due to customer compensation and one-off costs to the tune of £25m following a water quality incident.

The incident, which occurred over the summer in parts of the Lancashire region, forced United Utilities to issue a 'boil water' notice to over 300,000 properties - approximately 10% of its customer base.

However, the statement said the lower profit is in line with management expectations.

Group net debt at 30 September is expected to be slightly higher than the position six months ago as the group continues to invest in its asset base.

The company's planned investment is continuing at high levels, with regulatory capital investment for the 2015/16 full year expected to be around £800m.

It (Other OTC: ITGL - news) 's also anticipated infrastructure renewals expenditure will increase in the next six month period.

United Utilities will issue its full results for the six month period on 25 November.