South East Water has flagged material uncertainty over its future, revealing it holds sufficient cash only until July 2027 and will need new loan facilities shortly after to continue operating. The warning came as the utility reported losses widening to £33 million despite revenues rising to £352 million, with incident costs reaching £54.7 million after severe winter outages.
Chair Chris Train has resigned and chief executive David Hinton, who received £488,000 in total pay, has promised to step down. The company introduced a hosepipe ban in Kent in June, and more than 77,000 customers suffered supply interruptions. Shareholders injected £200 million of new capital in May 2025.
Separately, United Utilities faced a shareholder rebellion over pay, with 24 percent of investors voting against a remuneration policy that includes a £435,000 annual allowance for CEO Louise Beardmore.