LONDON (Reuters) - British water company Severn Trent (L:SVT) reported a 7 percent rise in annual underlying pre-tax profit to 269.1 million pounds, beating analyst consensus.
The water supplier also said it was paying a dividend of 80.4 pence for the 2013/14 financial year, a 6 percent rise, and that dividend payments for the 2014/15 financial year would increase by another 5.6 percent to 84.9 pence.
Chief Executive Liv Garfield, who took over the reins at Severn Trent 8 weeks ago, said her focus over the coming 12 months would be trying to secure a good outcome of the regulator's pricing review which caps the tariffs the utility can charge its customers.
(Reporting by Karolin Schaps)