Dividends showered on water shareholders


Shareholders in England's nine privatised water companies have received more than £6.5 billion in just five years, an investigation by the GMB general union reveals.


The nine companies showered their shareholders with a total of £1.4 billion in 2017 alone, the investigation found.


The figures come from a joint investigation into the accounts by GMB and Corporate Watch as part of GMB’s Take Back the Tap campaign to bring England’s privatised water industry back into public ownership.


The figures show the average dividend and interest accrued for shareholders by each privatised water company in 2017 was £158 million.


Meanwhile, as millions face a hosepipe ban, 2.4 billion litres of water is wasted through leaks every single day in England.


www.gmb.org.uk/newsroom/water-shareholder-billions