Labour Research January 2000

Features: Money Matters

UK water profiteers

The UK water industry enjoys some of the highest profit margins in the world, according to new research by the Public Services International Research Unit.

The research refers to an internal review made by French Viviendi, the world's largest water multinational, which concluded that its profit margin in the UK was 36.9% compared with 6.3% in Spain, 3.2% in the rest of Europe and 1.1% in the USA. David Hall, the report's author, shows that a similar pattern emerges when the profits of UK water companies are compared with those in France and Spain.