Northumbrian sees industrial clients stir

The company, which is 27 per cent owned by a Canadian teachers' pension fund, reported better-than-expected interim results after being hit by business closures last year.

Pre-tax profit rose 3.1 per cent to 89.7m.

Heidi Mottram, chief executive, said: "If you look at our industrial customer base what we are seeing now is quite a bit of stability, you can see a few ups and downs but if you draw a trend line it is ever so slightly up."

Northumbrian Water is the last of the four main UK listed water companies to report earnings after United Utilities and Severn Trent both reported a decline in profits last week while Pennon posted a slight rise.

Dominic Nash, analyst at Liberum Capital, said the results across the sector have been in line with expectations and that the water industry was performing "steady as she goes" ahead of regulatory changes expected next year on competition and the role of the watchdog, Ofwat.