Covid hits profits at Severn Trent, but that doesn't stop its community support

Published by

Nicky Godding

Severn Trent Water has reported a drop in turnover of 2.5 per cent, driven by a Covid-19 related decrease in demand.

In its interim results for the six months to 30 Sept 2020, the Coventry-based water company reported Group turnover of £888 million, down £22 million, and Group underlying profit before interest and tax of £226 million, down £61 million (21.2 per cent)

Liv Garfield, Chief Executive Severn Trent Plc, said: "The last six months have been challenging for everyone and I am grateful to our Severn Trent people, whether they've been in a treatment works, in an office, working from home, or out on the streets carrying out essential work, for the dedication, resilience and wonderful can-do spirit they have shown. It's these qualities which have enabled us to provide our customers with a great service in such difficult circumstances.

"I'm incredibly proud of what we've achieved, whether it's getting the top environmental performance grade once again from the Environment Agency, improving services for our customers, increasing our investment to help the country build back better, or taking a leading role in the Kickstart Scheme. We've done all of that while striving to do the right thing for all of our stakeholders, including mental health programmes, our support schemes for vulnerable customers, and through our £1 million emergency COVID-19 fund."

Over the last few months the water company has provided £13 million to support customers in financial need, donated £2 million to help local communities and accelerated payments to its supply chain helping 705 small and medium-sized enterprises in our region with crucial cash flow.

Severn Trent did not furlough any staff or make any redundancies, and has continued to take on apprentices and graduates.

It is supporting the Government Kickstart Scheme with ambitious plans to support 500 16 to 24 year olds into employment with paid work experience and skills development from January 2021.

Nicky Godding

Nicky Godding is editor of The Business Magazine. Before her journalism career, she worked mainly in public relations moving into writing when she was invited to launch Retail Watch, a publication covering retail and real estate across Europe. After some years of constant travelling, she tucked away her passport and concentrated on business writing, co-founding a successful regional business magazine. She has interviewed some of the UK’s most successful entrepreneurs who have built multi-million-pound businesses and reported on many science and technology firsts. She reports on the region’s thriving business economy from start-ups, family businesses and multi-million-pound corporations, to the professionals that support their growth and the institutions that educate the next generation of business leaders.