Thames Water boss says the firm was ‘nowhere near’ nationalisation after £750m investment

THE new boss of Thames Water said it was “nowhere near” nationalisation after investors put in £750million to shore up finances.

The debt-laden company has been blasted after the abrupt departure of its chief executive was followed by reports the Government could take control of it.

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The situation is now less shaky after investors, including the UK’s university pension scheme, a Canadian pension scheme and Abu Dhabi and Chinese sovereign wealth funds, put in £750million.

But it is still less than the £1billion promised last year.

Cathryn Ross, chief executive of Thames Water, told The Sun: “We are nowhere near special administration.

“We still have £4.4billion of cash on our balance sheet.”

Thames Water said investors had pledged another £2.5billion injection — but only if customer bills are hiked to ensure backers make a profit.

Thames Water is £14billion in the red — equivalent to more than three quarters of its earnings.

It is Britain’s most indebted water company.

Ms Ross, who was boss of watchdog Ofwat, defended allowing Thames Water’s previous owners to take out billions in dividends rather than invest in its infrastructure.

The regulator had focused on keeping bills down but this resulted in decades of under-investment, she said.

“We know pipes tend to wear away at 80 years, and the average age of Thames’s is 85,” she said.

Leaks in its pipes are the highest for 12 years.

Thames Water has also been engulfed in sewage pollution incidents, resulting in a £3.3million fine last week.

BT chief hangs up

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THE boss of BT is hanging up on the telecom giant amid mounting speculation it will be on the receiving end of a takeover bid from one of its investors.

Philip Jansen, 56, yesterday confirmed he would leave BT in the next 12 months after leading the company for the past four years.

Marc Allera, head of BT’s consumer division, is widely considered the front-runner to replace him.

Mr Jansen’s exit comes just two months after BT announced that it would be slashing 55,000 jobs by the end of the decade, with more than 10,000 replaced by artificial intelligence.

Mr Jansen has focused BT’s turnaround on slimming costs, rolling out fibre broadband and beefing up its TV sports platform.

Paolo Pescatore, analyst at PP FORESIGHT, said: “This has been on the cards for some time.

“There’s not much more left for him to do.”

BT shares closed down by 0.17p, or 0.14 per cent, to 122.08p.

Morr 1st on local savings

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MORRISONS will start stocking its cheapest range of groceries in its smaller convenience stores to help shoppers afford soaring food prices.

The move — the first of its kind in the industry — comes after consumer group Which? urged supermarkets to make their budget lines more widely available to shoppers in the cost-of-living crisis.

Convenience stores often charge more for their goods than larger stores because of higher high street shop rents.

Morrisons boss David Potts said: “Speaking plainly, the reason convenience stores don’t stock entry-price-point products is because they make very little, if any, money and do not fit with the significantly higher cost structure.

“But customers — especially those living in areas without easy access to a supermarket — have told us how much they would appreciate it at this difficult time and so we’re doing it.

Beauty to tame Boohoo

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THE board of Revolution Beauty has told investors it believes it could reach a “compromise” with Boohoo after a boardroom battle.

Fashion firm Boohoo, which owns a 26.6 per cent stake in Revolution, led a rebellion against a trio of its directors in a stormy annual meeting last month and successfully ousted them.

But the trio were then re-elected on to the board through a quirk of bringing on two other outsiders.

Boohoo has now called another general meeting for August 7 to install two of its own directors to push out Revolution’s representatives.

Revolution said if the board was “able to reach a compromise, this would avoid the expense, administrative burden and other detrimental consequences”.

Revolution has been engulfed in an accounting scandal that led to its founders leaving.

This post first appeared on thesun.co.uk