Anglian managed to trim £14.9m from its regulated water business which helped to boost profits to £274.2m, compared with £208m, the previous year.

A final dividend of 27.5p took the full year payout to 39p, up 13%.

The water company, which covers one of the biggest geographical areas in England, also announced plans to return up to 8% of capital to shareholders through a share scheme.

It has also appointed a new finance director, Elliott Mannis, to help oversee the task.

He is currently group financial controller of Aegis, a holding company in media planning and buying.

Managing Director Chris Mellor said: "Elliott is somebody who can help me continue the process of driving down costs and helping to grow our non-regulated business."

Leakage rate low

Operating profits from the company's core UK water businesses were £356.9m before exceptionals, up from £333.3m.

Hartlepool Water, which Anglian acquired in July 1997, contributed £1.7m to profits.

Operating losses in the international businesses widened to £7.4m from £6.1m despite revenue in the US doubling.

On a more positive note, Anglian, which has the business motto, "We care for every drop", said its leakage rate, at 12.4%, was now one of the lowest in the industry.