Thames Water will take decade to turn around, says boss

Thames Water will “take at least a decade to turn around”, its boss has said, as the struggling company posted huge annual losses.

Thames reported a loss of £1.65bn for the year to March, in which its debt pile climbed to £16.8bn.

The UK’s largest water and waste company claimed “significant rainfall and high groundwater levels” led to “pollutions” increasing by more than a third, but said it had tried to address “many of the underlying causes of our poor performance”.

The results come as bosses are set to be quizzed by MPs later, with the company’s future still uncertain since fears it could collapse first emerged two years ago.

Chris Weston, chief executive of Thames Water, said the company had made “good progress” on its performance, “despite the ongoing challenging financial situation”.

Thames serves about a quarter of the UK’s population, mostly across London and parts of southern England, and employs 8,000 people.

The firm continues to face heavy criticism over its performance in recent years, following a series of sewage discharges and leaks.

The dire state of the company finances emerged in June 2023, but Thames managed to secure a £3bn rescue loan earlier this year to stave off collapse.