Europe · Business news · Corporate · 07 Oct 2026
EU Utilities
Pennon Group, owner of South West Water, announced a fully underwritten rights issue of about £550 million to pay for roughly £1 billion of extra investment in its regulated water business. Capital spending for the 2025-30 regulatory period is now put at £3.6 billion. The total dividend for 2026/27 is reduced to about £125 million from £138 million, around 18 pence a share and some 30% lower per share, and is then to grow with CPIH inflation. Ofwat has provisionally allowed £230 million of extra costs, 76% of what Pennon asked for.
Shareholders are being asked for new money and given a smaller payout at the same time, the reverse of what income investors hold a utility for. It shows how England's water upgrade is financed: the regulator allows more spending, and equity has to fund part of it before bills repay it over decades. Severn Trent and United Utilities face the same regulatory process and investment demands, so Pennon's terms are a reference for the sector. Contractors and pipe and treatment suppliers are on the receiving end of the £3.6 billion.
Reported by Investing.com — “Pennon to raise £550 million in rights issue, rebase dividend for water upgrade” ↗ on 07 Oct 2026.
Official series on 07 Oct 2026 or the last day before it, and the latest observation.
Two costs rose at once for European companies: energy, with Brent back above $100, and borrowing, with French yields near 4.85% lifting the benchmark that banks, utilities and property companies in the euro area fund…
The certificate price is what importers of steel, aluminium, cement, fertiliser and other covered goods owe per tonne of embedded emissions, so it sets the cost gap between imported and EU-made material. European…
Higher gas prices raise power prices and input costs for energy-intensive producers in chemicals (BASF, Covestro), fertilisers (Yara), steel and glass, and squeeze utilities and energy retailers that cannot pass costs…
Each hike raises borrowing costs for governments, property companies and leveraged buyouts and weighs on rate-sensitive sectors such as real estate and utilities, while widening lending margins for banks such as BNP…
All European business stories · Every market · What changed today