Manweb raises dividend by 15.1%

MANWEB has turned on the pace in the current round of bumper dividend rises from regional electricity companies with a higher-than-expected 15.1 per cent increase in tandem with a 17.4 per cent rise in pre- tax profits to pounds 111.2m, writes Terence Wilkinson.

Bryan Weston, chairman, denied yesterday that Manweb had joined in a dividend 'race' in the wake of a surprise 14 per cent increase on Monday by East Midlands Electricity.

He said the decision to increase the final by 16.4 per cent to 14.9p, payable a month earlier than last year, for a total of 21p, had been taken in May.

'We have shared the benefits of our improved performance,' he said. 'We have handed pounds 7m back to our customers by cutting prices by 1 per cent from July and given shareholders pounds 3m more than they might otherwise have been expecting.' Manweb shares, which rose 2p on Monday, closed unchanged at 522p after 525p.

Profits in Manweb's core distribution business fell by 4.6 per cent from pounds 106.3m to pounds 101.4m on slightly lower turnover of pounds 248.6m. Last year the company froze the charge for transporting electricity across its network and also incurred costs in carrying out a pounds 38.7m investment in upgrading the network.

Main impetus behind Manweb's overall profits advance was a recovery in its wholesale electricity supply business, where losses of pounds 5.3m were turned into profits of pounds 6.9m.

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