Severn cuts leaks to a record low

SEVERN Trent joins a growing legion of companies opting to return cash to shareholders.

It plans to pay investors 63p per share through a special dividend – returning £150m to shareholders.

In Yorkshire this includes Bradford-based supermarket Morrisons, which is buying back £1bn of shares and Goole-based natural chemicals group Croda, which repurchased £50m of shares. York-based housebuilder Persimmon has also committed to a £1.9bn dividend giveaway over the next decade and Harrogate tool hire group Vp recently bought back £7.8m of shares.

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Budget airline Ryanair last week revealed plans to return about 483m euro (£390m) to shareholders through a special dividend.

“We are bereft of ideas so will give the money back to people who own the company,” said chief executive Michael O’Leary. “We’re generating so much money we don’t know what to do with it.”