2005 - 2006 - Pinsent Masons Water Yearbook 2012

UNITED KINGDOM PART 3 (ii): COMPANY ANALYSIS: LOCAL/REGIONAL PLAYERS
Bristol Water Group Plc
The Bristol Waterworks Company (Bristol Water) was founded in 1846. Bristol Water supplies water to
1,066,000 people in the city of Bristol in western England and certain surrounding areas. Sewerage
services are carried out by Wessex Water (YTL). Vivendi Environnement’s 24.7% holding was sold to
the Ecofin Water & Power Opportunities Fund Plc in 2002 for £38 million. In April 2001, Bristol Water
and Wessex Water set up a JV to combine their customer services and billing operations. Bristol
Water Plc is 100% held by Bristol Water Group Plc, the successor company to Bristol Water Holdings
Plc set up in September 2003, which operates the company’s non-regulated activities. By May 2005,
all non regulated activities with the exception of some joint ventures had been divested.
The company had set up a consortium with AWG as British Waterways’ partner for Watergrid, which
will mobilise BW’s 2,000 mile canal based water distribution system holding up to 200,000MI per day
for commercial and industrial customers. Bristol Water left the joint venture in June 2005.
In 2000, the non-regulated activities were grouped into Verdan Group Limited, consisting of Lawrence
(pipeline contracting), Elementa Facilities Maintenance (heating, ventilation and air-conditioning in
commercial and public buildings), Bristol Water Consultancy Services (leakage reduction and the
management of drinking water systems), Operational (energy and environmental services to the food,
pharmaceutical, printing and packaging industries) and Purton Carbons (JV with Norit for the
reactivation of granular activated carbon). Bristol Water exited from its Malaysian water management
joint venture in 2004 and made a profit of £0.4 million on the arrangement. During 2004-05, these
activities were all sold off.
Bristol Water Group, profit and loss account
Y/E 31/03 (£ million) 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005
Bristol Water Plc 64.84 68.01 69.97 75.2 75.6
Other activities 41.17 68.00 50.86 46.3 27.9
Group turnover 106.01 136.02 120.84 113.5 98.5
Operating profit 14.10 19.02 20.41 20.5 10.3
Pre-tax profit 10.44 15.58 16.09 14.5 1.6
Earnings per share (p) 29.4 55.7 43.2 50.8 31.1
In December 2003, Bristol Water announced a refinancing to increase the level of borrowings in the
regulated water business and a return of £51 million to shareholders. A second round of refinancing
was completed in June 2005, returning a further £30 million.
Contact Details
Name: Bristol Water Group Plc
Address: PO Box 218, Bridgewater Road,
Bristol, BS99 7AU, UK.
Tel: +44 117 966 5881
Fax: +44 117 963 4567
Web: www.bristolwater.co.uk
John Moger Woolley (Chairman)
Alan Parsons (CEO)
Roger Wyatt (MD)
Andrew Nield (Finance Director)
339 Pinsent Masons Water Yearbook 2005 – 2006