Thames Water has published its annual financial report for 2024-2025, with the struggling water utility continuing to post losses as it eyes a long-term turnaround plan.
Total loss before tax was £1,647 million, down from a £157 million profit before tax in 2023/24. This includes £33 million on turnaround and transformation expenditure as well as £122 million of provisions raised for fines as a result of Ofwat investigations.
Underlying revenue increased by more than 8% to £2,603 million, and Underlying EBITDA increased by over 10% to £1,335 million. Underlying operating profit increased by £112 million to £556 million.
Despite the continued poor performance, CEO Chris Weston was upbeat about the company’s performance in a challenging environment and planned turnaround scheme.
“Thames Water has made good progress in operational performance, despite the ongoing challenging financial situation,” he said. “The new organisation structure, focused on our infrastructure, brings clearer accountability and has helped our transformation continue to gain momentum.”
He added that the company invested a record £8.5 billion in infrastructure between 2020 and 2025.
“We enter the new regulatory period of 2025-2030 in a better place than we entered the 2020-25 period, with leakage at its lowest ever level, down by 13.2% since 2020. A defining moment last year was the connection of the £4.5 billion Thames Tideway Tunnel to our London network, supporting the reduction in sewage entering the tidal River Thames by 95%.”
While Weston was bullish about the company’s future, he cautioned that it would take time to see marked changes.
“We recognise that our current gearing is too high and, to address this, we are progressing with our Senior Creditors’ plan to recapitalise the business, which will see us return to a more stable financial foundation. This will come with a requirement to reset the regulatory landscape and acknowledge it will take at least a decade to turn Thames around.”
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