WATER giant United Utilities saw profits drop by 20 per cent last year, new figures have shown.
The firm, which provides water and wastewater services to over three million households in the North West, blamed the results on price decreases imposed by regulator Ofwat.
Turnover fell from £1.57bn to £1.51bn and pre-tax profits decreased from £408.7m last year to £327.1m.
The company said it has identified £50m of savings, or outperformance, before 2015 to help combat the fall in revenues.
Among measures to cut costs are moves to reduce bad debt among customers and new systems, including the return of some in-house functions from overseas.
Chief executive Steve Mogford said: “Despite a year of extreme weather conditions, we have demonstrated resilience, continued to serve our customers and thanks to the extraordinary efforts of our employees, met our leakage target.”
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