Jersey Water publishes 2006 Annual Report

Jersey Water has today published its Annual Report and Accounts, showing a profit before tax for 2006 of £2,800,000; a 15% increase on 2005 achieved despite the need to run the desalination plant for three months during the year and a tariff increase of just 1.95%.

The Water Quality report, also published today, shows that the water supplied during 2006 met or exceeded regulatory quality parameters for drinking water in 99.97% of samples taken, confirming it to be of a very high standard.

Turnover for the Company increased by 2.7%, driven by a higher than usual number of new connections to the network plus increased demand due to the dry weather of 2006. The increased revenue, coupled with efficiency savings helped offset the expense of running the desalination plant.

The Board is recommending a final dividend of 144.8 pence (net of income tax) per Ordinary and A Ordinary share which, together with the interim net dividend of 84 pence, makes a total equity dividend of 228.8 pence compared to 217.6 pence per share (net of income tax) for 2005, an increase of 5%.

In 2006, the Company spent just under £3 million on capital works which included the renewal of 2.1km of water mains. The Company extended the treated water network by 6.5km. There were 1,001 new connections to the mains network, an increase of 59% over the previous year.

Despite the very dry conditions throughout the spring and summer of 2006, the Company had no need to implement hosepipe restrictions as seen across much of the South East of England. However, the Company did decide to operate the desalination plant for the first time in three years as a precautionary measure to safeguard against the effects of a potentially dry autumn and early winter. Demand for water was 7,484 Ml in 2006, an increase of 2.6% over the previous year.

At the forthcoming AGM, Senator Len Norman, the Deputy Chairman, will retire from the Board after 20 years of service to the Company and it is proposed that Mr Kevin Keen, Managing Director of Jersey Dairy and President of the Jersey Chamber of Commerce, be elected to fill the vacancy left by Senator Norman.

Chairman of Jersey Water, David Norman, commented:

“We are very pleased with the Company’s results for the year which show a healthy return for the Company despite 2006 being very dry. Accordingly, we are proposing a 5% increase in the 2006 dividends for equity shareholders with the balance of profits being reinvested to fund our ongoing programme of mains renewals, water quality improvements and other enhancements to Jersey Water’s infrastructure”.

•	Jersey Water is the trading name of The Jersey New Waterworks Company Limited.
•	Of the 483,000 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.
•	A copy of the Company’s 2006 Annual Report is available from the Shareholder Information Section of the website
•	A copy of the Company’s 2006 Water Quality Report is available from the Water Quality section of the website

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