The Severn Trent Board has declared an interim ordinary dividend of 40.63p per share (2019/20: 40.03p per share), which will be paid on 6 January 2021 to shareholders on the register at 4 December 2020.
Other financial highlights include:
Group turnover of £888 million in line with expectations, down £22 million (2.5%), including £33 million as a result of consumption, largely driven by COVID-19 related decrease in metered revenue. Ofwat regulatory model allows us to recover this revenue in two years.
Group underlying PBIT3 of £226 million, down £61 million (21.2%) and Group reported PBIT of £225 million, down £61 million (21.3%), both impacted by reduced revenue, increased bad debt provisioning for COVID-19, higher depreciation and timing of property profits.
Effective interest cost reduced by a further 40 bps to 3.3%, from 3.7% at the full year.
Strong financial resilience following sustainable bond issue £300 million and one year extension of our RCF - £890 million of undrawn facilities.
Underlying basic EPS5 of 51.3 pence (down 25.4%) and basic EPS of 42.7 pence (down 30.8%), reflecting lower PBIT.
