Jersey Water today published its preliminary results for 2013.
The Company is reporting a profit before tax of £4.3 million, a reduction of £168,000 (3.7%) on the previous year. The reduction was driven by lower surplus asset sales offsetting an improvement of 0.8% in operating performance, lower finance costs and a reduction in exceptional items.
The quality of the water supplied by the Company during the year was good, with 99.84% of samples meeting or exceeding quality parameters. Due to rainfall patterns in 2013, nitrate levels were elevated during the first five months but remained well within dispensations granted by the States of Jersey and within limits which present no known risk to customers’ health.
The wet weather in the winter, spring and autumn of 2013 and the increase in metering meant that demand for water only increased by 0.4% on 2012. This factor, coupled with a below inflation tariff increase in 2013 contributed to an increase in turnover of 2.1%. Operating costs increased by 2.7% and were within budget for the year.
The Board of Jersey Water is proposing a final dividend on its Ordinary and ‘A’ Ordinary shares of 12.516 pence per share, bringing the total dividend for 2013 to 18.942 pence, an increase of 3% on 2012.
In 2013, Jersey Water renewed 2.5km of water mains, extended the network by 1.5km and installed 3,700 new meters as part of its £2.9 million capital works expenditure. The Island wide metering programme is in its fourth year and the installation of meters has been substantially completed in all parishes except for St Helier, which will be the focus of metering activity over the remainder of the project. The Company is on track to fit meters to 90% of connections by mid-2015.
Helier Smith, Jersey Water’s Finance Director, commented: “Jersey Water made steady progress in 2013. Our underlying operating performance showed improvement, despite the wet weather and metering limiting the demand for water. We met our financial and operational targets for the year and delivered substantially all of the capital expenditure projects that we set out to complete. We are pleased with the progress we are making on our metering project. We have now metered most of the Island and charge 74% of customers by meter. The effect of metering on demand is immediately visible in our leakage rates which reduced by 5% during the year and 4.5% the year before. We have also seen demand for water in 2013 and 2012 reduce by 2.5% and 3.6% on the five year average respectively. A good proportion of this will be as a result of the wet weather but metering will be a relevant factor.The wet weather meant that water resources remained healthy throughout the year and reservoirs are currently full. With the abundance of rain over the last two years, it is easy to lose sight of how quickly water resources can become depleted when the weather turns dry. Despite the rainfall, the metering programme remains a vital component of our strategy for meeting the Island’s need for water in the future.”
The Company will be publishing full financial statements which will be sent to all shareholders and be available from the Company’s website towards the end of March.
Summary of results
- Profit before tax was £4,318,000 (2012: £4,486,000)
- Profit on sale of fixed assets – £179,000 (2012: £598,000)
- Operating profit (before exceptional items) £4,800,000 (2012: £4,760,000)
- Investment in infrastructure in 2013 – £2.9 million (2012: 2.9 million)
- 3,700 meters installed (74% of connections now metered)
- Total water supplied was 7,047 million litres, an increase of 0.4% on 2012.
- Water quality compliance in 2013 was 99.84%% (2012: 99.99%)
- Tariffs for 2014 have increased by 1.0%, below the rate of inflation and the 12th consecutive increase that has been at or below inflation.Jersey Water is the trading name of The Jersey New Waterworks Company Limited.
- Of the 9,660,000 equity shares of Jersey Water in issue, 73.9% are owned by the States of Jersey. The balance of shares are owned by Companies and individuals (mainly Jersey residents).
- Jersey Water is not listed on any stock exchange and therefore has no official share price.
Further information available from the Shareholder section of the website