Troubled utility blames rainfall as pollution incidents rise by a third

It will take at least a decade to turn troubled Thames Water around, the boss of the UK’s biggest water company said, as it slumped to a £1.6bn annual loss.

The loss for the 12 months to 31 March comes after a profit of £154m the previous year, even though revenues climbed by 8.7% to £2.7bn. It had net debt of £16.8bn, up from £15.2bn the year before.