Pennon Group plc is a British water utility company based in Exeter, England. The company is listed on the

London Stock Exchange London Stock Exchange (LSE) is a stock exchange in the City of London, England, United Kingdom. , the total market value of all companies trading on LSE was £3.9 trillion. Its current premises are situated in Paternoster Square close to St P ...

and is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index. 83% of the company's profits come from its subsidiary,

South West Water South West Water provides drinking water and waste water services throughout Devon and Cornwall and in small areas of Dorset and Somerset. South West Water was created in 1989 with the privatisation of the water industry. It was preceded by the ...

History

The company was founded in 1989 as ''South West Water plc'' at the time of the privatisation of the Water Industry in

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. In 1993 it acquired ''Haul Waste'' and in 1995 it bought ''Blue Circle Waste Management''. It changed its name to ''Pennon Group plc'' in 1998. By 2016, the company employed approximately 4,500 people, and provided water and sewerage to 1.7 million customers in

South West England South West England, or the South West of England, is one of nine official regions of England. It consists of the counties of Bristol, Cornwall (including the Isles of Scilly), Dorset, Devon, Gloucestershire, Somerset and Wiltshire. Cities ...

. The company successfully saw off a takeover bid from Terra Firma in 2004. It acquired ''Thames Waste Management'' in 2004, ''Wyvern Waste'' in 2006, ''Grosvenor Waste Management'' and ''Skipaway Holdings'' in 2007 and ''Shore Recycling'' in 2008. In 2016, the group acquired Bournemouth Water in a deal worth £100 million, integrating the company with South West Water, but keeping the Bournemouth Water name. On 8 July 2020, global investment firm KKR completed its £4.2 billion acquisition of waste firm Viridor from Pennon Group. In June 2021, the company acquired Bristol Water for $563 million.

Operations

The company's main asset is

, which supplies water and sewerage services in

Devon Devon ( , historically known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South West England. The most populous settlement in Devon is the city of Plymouth, followed by Devon's county town, the city of Exeter. Devo ...

Cornwall Cornwall (; kw, Kernow ) is a historic county and ceremonial county in South West England. It is recognised as one of the Celtic nations, and is the homeland of the Cornish people. Cornwall is bordered to the north and west by the Atlantic ...

, and parts of

Dorset Dorset ( ; archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the unitary authority areas of Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole and Dorset. Covering an area of , ...

and

Somerset ( en, All The People of Somerset) , locator_map = , coordinates = , region = South West England , established_date = Ancient , established_by = , preceded_by = , origin = , lord_lieutenant_office =Lord Lieutenant of Somerset , lord_ ...

. South West Water covers 83% of the group's profits.

References

External links

Pennon Group Official site
{{Authority control Water companies of England Companies listed on the London Stock Exchange Companies established in 1989 Companies based in Exeter