Proactive Investors - Severn Trent’s boss has defended her £3.2 million salary, saying the company had made “massive progress” on river quality.
In February, the Midlands water supplier was fined £2 million for spilling 240 litres of raw sewage into the River Trent near Stoke while the number of spills it was responsible for rose by a third to more than 60,000 in 2023.
Even so, Liv Garfield said Severn Trent (LON:SVT) was better than most other water utilities.
Speaking to Rado Four, Garfield commented: “During that period of time [the past four years] we’ve been the best-rated company across the piste, whether it is by the Environment Agency on our environmental record, Ofwat in terms of our service performance, whether it’s investors putting cash in.
“We have had the second lowest bill.”
Garfield’s comments as Ofwat makes its final deliberations on how much money the water utilities will be able to make over the five years between 2025 and 2030.
An initial determination will be made next month with the final sign-off in December.
For the year to March just ended, Severn Trent has guided revenues between £2.15 billion and £2.20 billion, compared to £2 billion last year.
Severn Trent is also targeting a 116.84p dividend, against 106.82p in 2023, with capital investment set to climb from £737 million to £1 billion.