Thames Water £17bn in debt and needing 10-year turnaround

THAMES Water has revealed it is nearly £17billion in debt less than 24 hours after announcing a hosepipe ban hitting 1.1 million people.

- By Matt Clemenson and James Knuckey

The under-fire utility firm warned it will take a decade to turn around as it slumped to a £1.65bn annual pretax loss, from profits of £157million the previous year.

It also booked a £1.27bn bad debt provision on intercompany loans and set aside £122m for fines from Ofwat, among other costs.

Its full-year results showed its net debt swelled by another £1.65bn, while it revealed a “disappointing” performance on pollution and sewage spills.

The figures come as the water firm remains in talks over a rescue funding deal after private equity firm KKR last month pulled out of plans to inject cash.

Stressed