Thames Water secures extra £750m from shareholders to help stave off nationalisation | Water industry

Thames Water has secured £750m from its shareholders but the debt-ridden company warned it would need further funding in the years ahead.

The new funds come on top of £500m which investors pumped into Britain’s biggest water company in March.

The company said on Monday it had secured £750m to run to March 2025. It indicated that a further £2.5bn would be needed to cover the five years to 2030.

Last year, Thames secured an agreement that its shareholders would put £1.5bn into the ailing water firm. The first cash injection, of £500m, came in March while a further £1bn had been expected this year.

The company said the latest funds should not be viewed as a paring back of support as “£750m is also the maximum we can feasibly spend over the next two years of this regulatory settlement period within our current delivery capacity”.

Cathryn Ross and Alastair Cochran, the firm’s interim co-chief executives, said: “This announcement is a major milestone for Thames and all our stakeholders.”

Thames said its annual revenues rose by 4% to £2.3bn while underlying profits had fallen by 3% to £1.1bn because of “higher operating costs”.

The company announced the shock resignation of former chief executive Sarah Bentley late last month, and hours later it emerged that officials were drawing up contingency plans to temporarily renationalise the company.

Thames, which serves 15 million customers, has been struggling under a £16bn debt pile as rapidly rising interest rates have pushed up the cost of borrowing.

Thames’ largest investor is Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System (Omers), a Canadian pension fund, alongside the Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS), China Investment Corporation and Abu Dhabi’s Infinity Investments.

Ofwat, the regulator, has faced questions over its scrutiny of Thames, while former owner Macquarie, which sold its final stake in 2017, has been accused of loading the company with debts.