United Utilities Group Plc. (UU.L,UUGRY.PK) on Thursday reported higher pre-tax profit for the year, helped by increased revenues as a result of price rise. However, profit after tax declined from the previous year due to a decrease in deferred taxation credits.
The water utility announced a final dividend of 22.88 pence per share, an increase of 7.2 percent, taking the total dividend for 2012/13 to 34.32 pence.
Steve Mogford, CEO, said, "Customer satisfaction with our service continues to improve, underpinned by strong operational and environmental performance. We are improving the quality and reliability of our infrastructure and, across the 2010-15 period, expect to reinvest around £200 million of capital expenditure outperformance for the benefit of our customers and the environment.''
Dwelling on the company's capital investment program, Mogford added that the utility expects to invest around another 800 million pounds in 2013/14.
For the year ended March 31, profit before taxation rose to 304.7 million pounds from 280.4 million pounds.
Underlying profit before taxation was 354.3 million pounds, while it totaled 327.0 million pounds last year.
Profit after taxation dropped to 296.9 million pounds from 316.5 million pounds due to a decrease in deferred taxation credits. Earnings per share declined to 43.5 pence from 46.4 pence.
The latest results benefited from a 53 million pounds deferred taxation credit, compared to a 105 million pounds credit in 2011/12.
Earnings per share from continuing operations fell to 41.3 pence from 45.6 pence.
Revenue increased to 1.636 billion pounds from 1.565 billion pounds in the prior year, as a result of the 5.8 percent nominal regulated price increase.
The utility said it remains on track or ahead of schedule in meeting its five-year regulatory outperformance targets. ''We intend to continue with our dividend policy of targeting 2% per annum growth above the rate of RPI inflation through to at least 2015, underpinned by a robust capital structure,'' the company said.
UU.L is falling 0.5 percent in early morning trade at 785.00 pence.
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