Affinity pre-tax profits down 25% as operating costs rise

Profit before tax at Affinity Water for the year to 31 March 2016 was off almost 25% at £45.6m from the previous year on revenue boosted £6.5m by inflation-linked price increases to £302.6m.

Inflation contributed to a 12.5%, rise in operating costs to £237.5m adding £2.2m to outgoings. Other growth in costs included:

Higher depreciation due to newly commissioned assets £2.2m

Higher costs associated with new customer connections £2.5m

Costs associated with increased leakage detection and prevention activity £2.8m

Higher power consumption £2.9m

IT transformation costs £3.3m

Reimbursement of environmental improvement unit charges (EIUC) and credit notes received from the Environment Agency to cover EIUC in 2014/15 operating costs.

The company reported highlights including:

• Resilience improvements outstripping its regulatory target by 29%;

• lost time staff injuries at 0.27 per 100,000 hours down from 1.02 in 2014-15; and

• a value for money score of 71.6% using an "innovative index".

Chief executive, Simon Cocks (pictured), who took his post in June 2015, was: “delighted that we have made a strong start in the first year of our ambitious five year plan for our customers and communities.”