South West Water is planning to create 500 jobs in the next four years and help the region’s economy recover from the Covid-19 pandemic.
The Exeter-headquartered company’s newly published has been submitted to the Government and South West Water’s (SWW) regulators.
If given the go-ahead, the firm, the region's largest, said it would see the water company’s overall investment increase by 10%, creating hundreds of new jobs, benefiting the wider supply chain, and providing opportunities for SWW’s existing workforce to gain new green skills.
The South West’s economy has been one of the hardest hit by Covid-19, and SWW, as one of the largest companies in the region, said its Green Recovery Initiative is focused on opportunities to make an even bigger and more societal contribution, with six projects focused on improving public health, protecting the environment and addressing climate change.
The Green Recovery Initiative has been developed with input from customers, who when surveyed, strongly endorsed the proposals.
Support has also been given by the independent WaterShare+ Customer Advisory Panel, whose role includes holding the company to account in delivering for customers.
Susan Davy, chief executive of SWW parent firm Pennon, said: “Our Green Recovery proposals are focused on opportunities to make an even bigger environmental and societal contribution to the South West for the longer term than we already do today.
“We are confident South West Water can step up to the challenge, deliver for all, and play our part in the Green Recovery.”
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Lord Matthew Taylor, chair of the WaterShare+ advisory panel, said: “These plans for further enhancing the environment, public health, creating new and better jobs are welcomed, especially as customers’ bills won’t be impacted.”
SWW’s Green Recovery Initiative is in addition to existing efforts to support the region, having already accelerated delivery of abut £42million of investment, creating 500 new apprenticeships, and being one of the first companies anywhere to take part in the Kickstart scheme, providing work placements to young people at risk of long-term unemployment.
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In November 2020, Pennon revealed a £15million fall in half-year profit but bosses stressed the business remained “resilient” in the face of the coronavirus pandemic.
Pennon’s results for the six months to the end of September 2020, a period characterised by the Covid-19 crisis and its economic aftershocks, showed an underlying pre-tax profit of £86.7million.
But this was down 14.5% from the £101.4million profit for the same period in pre-Covid 2019. Revenue was also down slightly, a 1.9% drop from £325.8million to £319.7million.
In 2020, the FTSE-100 company made a £1.7billion profit from the sale of its waste management operation Viridor - having taken £3.7billion in net cash proceeds, from the £4.2billion disposal - and is paying off debt, with £750million already paid back and £36million injected into the company’s main pension scheme.
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This leaves Pennon with £2.7billion for investment, the accounts revealed. Already there has been speculation that the company will make a bid to buy Southern Water.
Pennon said it has rapidly adapted to the operational and financial challenges presented by Covid-19 and is well placed to weather the crisis.