S&P acts on U.K. water companies

S&P said it downgraded Wessex Water Services Ltd. to BBB from BBB+. The agency affirmed the ratings for Anglian Water Services Financing plc and Northumbrian Water Group Ltd. and placed them on CreditWatch with negative implications. The revisions come after the final determination of their regulator’s price review. Anglian, Northumbrian and Yorkshire Water Finance plc appealed the decision to the Competition and Markets Authority. The final determination means lower returns for 14 U.K. water companies.

S&P also affirmed the ratings for Yorkshire Water Finance but changed the outlook to negative from stable. The outlooks for Anglian and Northumbrian were already negative.

S&P affirmed the ratings and outlooks for Portsmouth Water Ltd. and Thames Water Utilities Finance plc.

“Despite the tighter regulation, we continue to assess the U.K. regulatory framework for water utilities as strong, supporting our view that these utility companies have excellent business risk profiles,” said S&P in a press release.

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