Water Intelligence Share Discussion Threads

[maywillow] 21/1/2019 11:05

the_house
Gareth Thomas: The water industry is failing – it’s time to put the public in charge
Written by:

Gareth Thomas MP

The House Magazine

Posted On:
21st January 2019

Bringing water into public ownership on a mutual model would ensure a well-resourced and accountable industry – and save the taxpayer money, writes Gareth Thomas
Thames Water Thames Water improvement works. Gareth Thomas calls for the company to be converted into a mutual Credit:
PA

Margaret Thatcher’s decision 30 years ago to privatize our water industry has created a system which is expensive, unaccountable and unfair. No other country has completely privatized their system of water and sewage services. There is little competition and regulation has been deeply flawed. The consumer voice has carried little weight when up against the interests of distant investors and not surprisingly water bills have rocketed as a result.

Bringing the water industry back into public ownership by mutualizing the industry has long been the ambition of the Co-op party. Indeed, only a change in ownership so that the public are in charge will deliver the shift in priorities to make the water industry fit for the environmental, investment and financial challenges it faces.

The owners of Thames Water have particularly exploited their monopoly position. In the ten years to 2016 Thames Water’s shareholders paid themselves £1.6bn in dividends, ran up a pension deficit of £260m, loaded Thames Water with £10bn of debt and regularly paid zero corporation tax. In 2017 Thames Water was ranked 23rd out of 23 water companies for customer satisfaction according to, the Water Watchdog, The Consumer Council for Water. According to their own performance report for 2017/18 Thames are failing to meet basic targets in 17 out of 41 key areas.

Research by the Open University suggests that the owners took more in dividends from Thames Water than it actually earned from its income from its consumers over the last decade. Dividends, debt and the pension deficit weren’t the only things to increase in this period – customer bills and the number of complaints went up too.

Thames Water should be converted into a mutual, operating in the private sector but owned by its consumers and its employees. Thames Water would be jointly owned by a consumer trust and an Employee trust to share ownership of the new mutual company which would be limited by guarantee, similar to Glas Cymru who provide water in Wales.

Public ownership can take many forms but a mutual model, building on the success of what has worked in Wales and some of the lessons of the industry before privatisation would ensure Thames Water is well-resourced, accountable and effective.

Mutualising the water industry would also not require taxpayer money to be diverted from funding public services into buying out the current owners of water companies.

One of the key arguments used to bring in privatisation was that companies would deliver new investment. The government of the day cancelled all the former nationalised industries debts to help and huge sums have over the last 30 years have been borrowed, but it is questionable whether that has led to more investment than there would otherwise have been.

All of the investment in tackling leaks and improving water supply could have been covered using the resources garnered by customer bills suggesting that the debt on water companies’ books is at least in part delivering tax and dividend benefits for shareholders rather than new investment to help tackle leaks and improve services.

Mutuals would still be able to borrow for investment taking away one of the arguments opponents of reform would inevitably use to argue against public ownership and for reprivatisation.

Increasing the powers of Ofwat to reduce dividends, increase investment and put the consumers first would transform the ownership of the water industry delivering public ownership at no cost to the taxpayer and making re-privatisation much less likely.

The water industry needs reform. But if the reform is to be meaningful a change in ownership to put consumers and employees in the driving seat is essential.

Gareth Thomas is Labour MP for Harrow West. The Westminster Hall debate on the future of the water industry is on Tuesday 22nd January

[effortless cool] 18/1/2019 16:29

Well, they ain't getting them.

[shanklin] 18/1/2019 16:25

EC, They want your shares on the cheap

[effortless cool] 18/1/2019 15:45

Tried out some online quotes just now. Could sell up to 10,000 but could only buy 100.

Bizarre. Why don't they just put the price up?

[silverfern] 18/1/2019 14:22

Stock in short supply- I bought 4k in two tranches today but had to wait get an online deal

[john09] 14/1/2019 10:06

The others they tipped are down today . One of them is down 10% lol. Count yourselves lucky you got at least something so far today. The downtrend will continue

[lucicavi] 14/1/2019 10:02

WATR was a big write up in `Nov so Johno9 missed buying the dip

look good to me

[jaf111] 14/1/2019 08:31

A little surprised by the very modest reaction to the SCSW tip.....

[effortless cool] 12/1/2019 21:16

Thanks, nurdin.

[john09] 12/1/2019 17:54

SCSW tip of the year is a bloody kiss of death !

[silverfern] 12/1/2019 17:51

DAn, isn't that info the reason people pay to subscribe to these services?

[dan_the_epic] 12/1/2019 17:27

Which were the other 8 out of interest? and how have the NAPS done historically?

[nurdin] 12/1/2019 17:25

9 NAPS EC.Nothing new on WATR...just recaping recent results and underlining the growth potential.

[effortless cool] 12/1/2019 13:04

Good call, nurdin. Bodes well for Monday.

How many naps do they have, and do they have any interesting insights beyond those already discussed here?

[nurdin] 12/1/2019 12:04

As I suspected :o)

[tinker10] 08/1/2019 09:31

Wish I'd topped up more than 500 shares yesterday.... Not complaining though, it looked over sold.

[silverfern] 08/1/2019 09:22

I know EC tipped it on 'Shares to double' in 2019 :)

[jaf111] 08/1/2019 09:07

A sudden change of fortune.....tipped somewhere?
Seems to have been very oversold so am looking for a decent rally from these depressed levels....

[effortless cool] 03/1/2019 20:36

Added £4k for each of my daughters in their LISAs yesterday. Hopefully will pay for a nice house for each of them in due course.

[silverfern] 03/1/2019 20:27

well it is an ideal time to buy if you believe fundamentals will win over market downturn. There are always winners in a bear market. This has the makings of a company that is with £100m, but it will take time. Three years from here, with the way they are planning as well as delivering their growth, this could be +£6 per share imho.

[someuwin] 03/1/2019 13:23

fallen too far - imo.

[la forge] 21/12/2018 09:33

proactiveinvestors


Water Intelligence flows higher after bagging US$1mln contract win Down Under
09:13 21 Dec 2018
“Despite market volatility, our fundamentals remain strong. Demand for water infrastructure solutions will continue to grow worldwide. Full steam ahead.”
leak
Water Intelligence is targeting 40% sales growth this year

Water Intelligence PLC (LON:WATR) shares flowed higher on Friday after the leak detection specialist unveiled a “significant” contract win in Sydney, Australia.

The contract Down Under is a multi-year contract anticipated to contribute approximately US$1mln to 2019 sales.

Last month, Water Intelligence told investors it was targeting 40% sales growth for 2019 and beyond.

“With this municipal win in Australia, accompanied by recent smaller municipal wins in the US in Michigan and New York, the company is off to a good start to meet its 2019 growth plan.”

Patrick DeSouza added: “Despite market volatility, our fundamentals remain strong. Demand for water infrastructure solutions will continue to grow worldwide. Full steam ahead.”

Shares jumped 10% on Friday morning to 250p.

[shanklin] 21/12/2018 07:22

Blimey and I had thought pipes must stop leaking in a recession?