Fitch Ratings has this morning confirmed that it views the outcome of the Anglian Water and Yorkshire Water appeals to the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) as credit-positive and that the ratings remain unchanged.

In response to the Competition and Markets Authority’s final findings in the 2019 Price Review appeals published today, Anglian Water has welcomed the CMA’s recognition “that a different approach to funding growth is needed.”

Yorkshire Water said the Competition and Markets Authority's summary of conclusions regarding its Final Determination (FD) in the PR19 appeals will allow it the scope to make the optimum investment decisions in AMP7 to address longer term challenges such as climate change and projected growth in the region.

In its final comments to the Competition and Markets Authority in the PR19 appeals inquiry, Ofwat has told the CMA that the latest stages of the process have seen the consumer voice “drowned out” with the submissions made to the CMA “increasingly…dominated by the well-resourced company and investor voice.”

Ofwat has told the Competition and Markets Authority that the submissions made to it in the current PR19 water companies’ appeals have ”increasingly been dominated by the well-resourced company and investor voice, on occasion to the exclusion of other perspectives.”

Pension funds group IFM Investors (UK) Ltd, one of the largest infrastructure investors globally, is warning the Competition and Markets Authority of its doubts over the stability and long-term attractiveness of the UK water sector.

UK pension funds investors GLIL Infrastructure LP (GLIL) has warned the Competition and Markets Authority that investment in UK regulated utilities is “perilously close to the edge …leading to a negative cycle of low investment, poor returns, inability to attract and motivate strong management teams."

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has launched a short consultation following extensive representations by the four companies appealing against Ofwat’s PR19 decisions, the regulator and other stakeholders on its Provisional Findings – specifically on the cost of capital.