Northumbrian reports customer satisfaction leadership and final dividend

(by Verity Mitchell)

Northumbrian Water has posted full-year results for 2025-2026. Revenue increased to £1,182m, up 16%; operating profit increased to £383.2m, up 31.7%; and profit before tax of £173.5m was up 52.5%, demonstrating operational leverage from allowed regulated revenue increases.

Total fixed asset additions in the year ended 31 March 2026 were £612.6m (31 March 2025: £606.6m), including intangible assets – an increase of £6m, up only c.1%. By the end of the year management said it had launched 75% of its capital programme (by value) into the design and construction process. The company plans to invest over £4.5bn in AMP8, so this appears to be a slow start compared with the growth recorded in investment for some of its peers.

The board continues to target customer satisfaction as a top priority for the group. Northumbrian Water ranked first for C-MeX, and was also recognised as the top and most trusted water and wastewater company by the Consumer Council for Water. It was also ranked highly in the other customer experience measures, including BR-MeX and D-MeX, where it respectively achieved third and fourth industry positions.

Leakage reduced from 180.0 to 168.1 megalitres per day on a three-year average basis. Northumbrian installed 388,000 smart meters across its operating areas. Bathing water quality remained strong, with 33 out of 35 bathing waters rated Good or Excellent. Other positive performances were recorded for: all customer measures; interruptions to supply greater than three hours; leakage; storm overflow spills (with average spills per overflow reducing significantly from 26.30 to 17.76); and greenhouse gas emissions for water.

Penalties were incurred for: Compliance Risk Index; discharge permit compliance; one serious Category 2 pollution incident; and greenhouse gas emissions for wastewater. Northumbrian’s Environmental Performance Assessment ranking will reflect the areas of challenge, particularly pollution performance and discharge compliance.

During the year, shareholders injected £400m of equity to support delivery of the AMP8 business plan, which has improved regulatory gearing. Regulatory Capital Value (RCV) financial covenant gearing was 60.4% and RCV regulated gearing was 61.3%.

Interim and final dividends of 46.3p and 56.2p were declared, compared to only an interim dividend in the prior year. This equates to a regulatory dividend yield of 4% for 2025/26.