The South West鈥檚 largest company is to sponsor Theatre Royal Plymouth鈥檚 youth theatre programme.
Utilities giant Pennon, parent firm of South West Water, has signed on to support the engagement and learning project Young Company Hubs.
The two-year sponsorship will enable TRP to bring youth theatre to those most in need as they partner with secondary schools in areas of high deprivation, where young people have limited access to arts provision.
TRP鈥檚 Young Company Hubs works closely with the young people involved in the project to ensure it is participant-focused, current and gives them what they most need.
The young people develop a range of key skills including confidence, team building, communication, problem-solving, resilience and critical thinking 鈥 all of which are key for the next stage of their lives and beyond, and thanks to Pennon this work can continue for the next two years.
Erica Vitai, senior development officer at TRP, said: 鈥淲e鈥檙e so grateful for the support that Pennon have given us over the years, and we鈥檙e delighted that they have chosen to sponsor our Young Company Hubs project for the next two years.
鈥淭heir support has always been amazing and despite our doors being closed for the best part of 13 months, our partnership with Pennon is still as strong as ever.
鈥淭his focused, two-year sponsorship of Young Company Hubs will help us to reach more young people, bringing our Young Company workshops to those most in need.鈥
Susan Davy, chief executive at Pennon said: 鈥淎s a business based in the South West, we believe it鈥檚 our responsibility to promote and contribute to the region.
鈥淲e鈥檙e delighted to be sponsoring the Theatre Royal in Plymouth and the engagement and learning project Young Company Hubs.
鈥淭he support this will bring to local schoolchildren is fantastic and we are very pleased to be supporting the local community along with the TRP.鈥
Pennon, which is a long-standing sponsor of TRP having supported it since at least 2008, owns South West Water and Bournemouth Water, providing water and wastewater services to a population of about 1.7million in Cornwall, Devon, the Isles of Scilly and parts of Dorset and Somerset, and water-only services to about 0.5 million in parts of Dorset, Hampshire and Wiltshire.
In March 2021, Exeter-headquartered Pennon said it is in a with 鈥渆xpected cash and committed facilities鈥 amounting to well in excess of 拢3billion.
In at statement to investors, FTSE 100 company Pennon said it believes there is significant potential from the reinvesting the cash it received for selling its Viridor division for 拢4.2billion in 2020.
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The sale of the waste management business to private equity firm KKR left it with 拢3.7billion in cash and it has been looking at investing into the 海角视频 water sector.
Pennon said it continues to 鈥渘arrow down its review of potential growth opportunities鈥. In late 2020 it was speculated that Pennon was eyeing up a bid for Southern Water and earlier in the year chief executive Susan Davy hinted at a potential buy-out in an interview with Business Live, saying: 鈥淲e are looking at growth opportunities in the 海角视频 water sector.鈥
In its trading statement, ahead of announcing full-year results in June, it said that if it can鈥檛 find a suitable acquisition then it will pay shareholders a big bonus.
The statement read: 鈥淚n the event a major value accretive investment opportunity is not available, Pennon expects to make a substantial return of capital to shareholders.鈥
In 2020 Pennon, the largest company in the South West according to the Western Morning News鈥 annual listing, handed 拢20million to customers, many of whom decided to take it as shares rather than a cut to their bill.
