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Pennon is looking at the opportunities for further M&A activity following on from its takeover of Bournemouth Water last month, Utility Week can exclusively reveal.
Speaking to Utility Week on the back of the group’s preliminary full year results for 2014/15, Pennon group finance director Susan Davy said the company was assessing the options for further acquisitions.
She said: “Where there is a good strategic fit, there is a logic, and if we think that will be enhancing for both shareholders and customer in the long term, we will look at them.”
South West Water chief executive Chris Loughlin also said: “If other opportunities come along we would look to see if they made sense for customers and our shareholders.”
However, he added the company is taking “one step at a time” in relation to new acquisitions following Pennon’s £100.3 million takeover of Bournemouth Water.
On that deal, which is subject to approval by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), Loughlin said that Pennon is “bringing two good companies together” and that it represents a good deal for shareholders and customers.
He added that Bournemouth Water is set to continue to operate under its own brand because it is “a well-respected local company” but the issue of whether South West Water and Bournemouth Water would operate under separate or a joint licence “is a matter for the future”.
The CMA granted Pennon permission at the start of May to provide some back-office services to Bournemouth Water, including: banking changes; new debt raising; dealing with tax; and debt collection.
The CMA is expected to make a ruling on whether the Pennon takeover of Bournemouth Water can be completed by October.
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