plan for collapse of Thames Water
- Thread starter Mrwong
- Start date
Come again?!
Surely historical metered readings provided both the data and the "fairer" way of charging customers?!
e: This seems utterly cynical; like the drive to push down energy usage versus jacking the standing charge; We'll tease a lower winter water unit cost and jack it up during the "peak" season! Give over.
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Looks like the inevitable is now sooner rather than later; From March 2025 to December 2024. Thames debt has now gone from junk to er extra junk according to this Guardian News article.
Meanwhile Southern Water wants to er import water from Norway; the mind boggles.
Meanwhile Southern Water wants to er import water from Norway; the mind boggles.
Well this is just perfectly normal business practice.
Major water company uses accounting trick to inflate balance sheet by £1.68bn
A substantial Severn Trent Water investment is based on IOU notes - BBC Panorama finds.
www.bbc.co.uk
And that's number wang!!Well this is just perfectly normal business practice.
Major water company uses accounting trick to inflate balance sheet by £1.68bn
A substantial Severn Trent Water investment is based on IOU notes - BBC Panorama finds.www.bbc.co.uk
Soldato
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I mean, it actually is… the story reads like a third rate accountant stumbled across something and didn’t understand it properly. Even corporate structures for small SMEs, never mind large listed companies, would make your brains melt if you find this unusual and shocking.Well this is just perfectly normal business practice.
Major water company uses accounting trick to inflate balance sheet by £1.68bn
A substantial Severn Trent Water investment is based on IOU notes - BBC Panorama finds.www.bbc.co.uk
Transactions and accounting like this happen on a daily basis across the world. It’s so normal and so common that it isn’t even really worth commenting on.
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Soldato
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I work in this field and personally I disagree. I’m struggling to think of comparable examples, so feel free to share some if it happens so frequently.
I hate commenting in this thread; it just makes my blood boil.
I suspect the comments from @MichaelAwkward regarding this so-called honest business practice do exist but the acceptance and normalisation of such is what boggles the mind. It is clearly a blatant cheat by the Water owner shell company to
a) conjure the worth of a minor shell company by providing an IOU for 3b which then
b) Severn Trent Water acquires 49% of minor shell company, thus legitimising the 3b worth of that minor shell company and finally
c) Water owner shell company then recoups it's fictitious investment by way of dividends and likely other creative practices from both!
Bonkers!
I suspect the comments from @MichaelAwkward regarding this so-called honest business practice do exist but the acceptance and normalisation of such is what boggles the mind. It is clearly a blatant cheat by the Water owner shell company to
a) conjure the worth of a minor shell company by providing an IOU for 3b which then
b) Severn Trent Water acquires 49% of minor shell company, thus legitimising the 3b worth of that minor shell company and finally
c) Water owner shell company then recoups it's fictitious investment by way of dividends and likely other creative practices from both!
Bonkers!
Soldato
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A while ago the Benefits Agency I worked for (ex Civil Service entity) was owned by Sema Group. They sold one share to each of us employees for £1, and then a, "like, totally different new company" called SchlumbergerSema Group immediately bought every share off the employees for £1,001.
We as employees didn't have to do anything as it was all handled by the finance/payroll guys. We just had to tick the 'opt in' box and we each got a free grand, and the new company got whatever they wanted.
I'm pretty sure that weird intenal sale thing was a legit tax dodge of some kind.
Soldato
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Something that happened more than 20 years ago for reasons that you aren't aware of is not exactly the smoking gun.
Thames Water boss defends bonuses as sewage spills soar
The company saw a 40% increase in pollution incidents in the first half of the year as its debts continued to swell.
www.bbc.co.uk
Do you genuinely read that BBC article as the BBC defending by Themes water?
It’s reporting the defence that themes water have put out about the persons remuneration package and comments others have made criticising it and some context around their performance and finances.
There is zero opinion from the BBC in that article. In what way are the BBC defending Themes Water here?
The idea is you read it and form your own opinion. Just because you don’t agree with what the Themes water spokesperson has said, doesn’t mean the BBC are defining them by reporting it.
It’s reporting the defence that themes water have put out about the persons remuneration package and comments others have made criticising it and some context around their performance and finances.
There is zero opinion from the BBC in that article. In what way are the BBC defending Themes Water here?
The idea is you read it and form your own opinion. Just because you don’t agree with what the Themes water spokesperson has said, doesn’t mean the BBC are defining them by reporting it.
Soldato
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If the company was attracting the best “talent” it wouldn’t be in a mess.
I did not. The repeated defence from Thames is the difficult read.
So the in the interim; they'll continue to pay subpar individuals at the talent rate soaking up the coins?
At this point, they're not paying for talent, they're probably paying out of desperation - how much would you want to be paid to be charged with going in and somehow sorting that mess out? It's hardly the most attractive job in the industry at the moment