NEWS MWH Global makes Biwater Services acquisition
Global engineering and construction firm MWH Global has signed an agreement with Biwater Holdings (BH) to acquire its UK-based subsidiary Biwater Services. Biwater Services, the holding company for Biwater Treatment, Farrer Consulting and BiProduct Recovery. The company has 675 employees.
Together, MWH and frameworks, Biwater
Services have the ability to provide programme and asset management led
enabling MWH to benefit from expected market
changes and be responsive to future challenges.
Robert Uhler, chairman and chief executive of MWH Global said: “Together, we provide a
broader range of skills to address the creation, management and optimisation of existing wet infrastructure assets.”
Bernard Armstrong, chairman of
Biwater Services, said: “We believe that a combination with MWH Global enhances our strong position in the UK water market and strengthens our service offering to our clients.
Profits fall at UU and Severn Trent Half year results in from two of
the UK’s biggest water companies show a sharp drop in profits to 30 September 2010, despite higher consumption. Price
cuts ordered by the
regulator, Ofwat, and the impact of higher inflation have left water company United Utilities (UU) nursing a 24% drop to £196M. £196.2M from £258.2M a year ago, on revenues of £762.4M.
Severn Trent’s profits have more than halved, falling from £208.2M to £101.1M, despite rising revenues.
Thames Water gets to grips
Thames Water engineers show off their ice-shoes in a first for the UK utility sector. Meter readers, repair and maintenance engineers and operations staff are being issued with anti-skate over-shoes to stop them slipping on ice patches this winter. The shoes, developed for people who work in ice houses or maintain ice rinks, have studs on the sole that bite into the ice.
6 Water & Wastewater Treatment December 2010
The fall is blamed on extra costs for restructuring and infrastructure. UU chief executive, Philip Green, said UU hoped to beat the regulatory targets for AMP5, helped by its renewed focus on core operations after sales of other assets including gas. The company committed £307M of capital expenditure over the half year and said it was close to completing its West East Link Main, a £120M project connecting Merseyside and Greater Manchester.
Severn Trent’s rise in revenues of
1.9% to £867.9M is put down to the dry summer and robust commercial consumption due to a lower level of company insolvencies.
said:
Chief executive Tony Wray “We
have continued to
raise standards and drive greater efficiency across the business with good progress in many key areas including further improvements in customer service, sewer flooding and leakage. We are also pleased to report that despite challenging markets, Severn Trent Services has returned to growth, as expected.”
We believe this combination will significantly benefit our long- standing clients during the current and future AMP cycles.” Larry Magor, chief executive of BH, said: “The company will continue with its core strategy of securing export and project-financed projects in the international water and wastewater market.”
Amplio expands
The Amplio Group has acquired Environmental Water Systems UK (EWS), a provider of integrated water treatment and purification and wastewater recovery services. The move signals the continued expansion of Amplio Filtration, a subsidiary of Amplio Group, marking
the company’s third
acquisition in the water filtration space in the past 12 months. EWS will be combined with Puresep Holdings, acquired in July.
Water awards deadline looms
The closing date for the Water Industry Achievement Awards is only a few weeks away. Entries for this event, jointly hosted by WWT and WET News magazines, must be received by the organiser on 6 January 2011. WWT editor Natasha Wiseman said: “This is the only awards event that celebrates the whole of the industry. It gives recognition to the hard work of companies and individuals across the water sector.”
The awards take place in Birmingham on 29 March 2011. For information about entries and table bookings, go to www.web4water. com/wiaa.
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