Can anyone shed any light on the news release below for me?
I've read it twice and it's still as clear as mud!
Cheers!!

Northumbrian Water Group PLC
23 May 2005


Northumbrian Water Limited (the 'Company') - Cancellation of listing of the
repurchased 3.5 per cent. Perpetual Debenture Stock and the outstanding 4 per
cent. Perpetual Debenture Stock and 5 per cent. Perpetual Debenture Stock (the
'3.5 per cent. Perpetual Debenture Stock', '4 per cent. Perpetual Debenture
Stock' and the '5 per cent. Perpetual Debenture Stock') of the Company

The Company hereby announces that the listing on the Official List of the
repurchased 3.5 per cent. Perpetual Debenture Stock, the outstanding 4 per cent.
Perpetual Debenture Stock and 5 per cent. Perpetual Debenture Stock has been
cancelled with effect from 8 a.m. today.


Northumbrian Water Limited
(Incorporated and registered in England and Wales with registered number
2366703)
Registered Office:
Northumbria House, Abbey Road,
Pity Me, Durham DH1 5FJ

Dated: 23rd May 2005

Upgrade by broker.
Plus possible talk of M&A.
Should be a bounce when people start to lock in profit. Worth watching imo.

LONDON (Thomson Financial) - "Shares in Northumbrian Water (NW) were upgraded to 'overweight' from 'equalweight' with an increased target of 370 pence from 305 at Morgan Stanley this morning with the broker saying that given pressure on future funding of capex in the water sector it thinks NW offers the best upside potential, dealers said.

The broker said that based on its new proprietary model, it thinks water stocks are not financable without longer-term higher returns.

It said that by using Ofwat's financial parameters from the last review -- which calculate the key financial metrics that must be satisfied by water companies -- it indicates that the allowed return must be 4.5 pct at a minimum until 2025 for companies to retain a solid financial status.

It said without this, it does not think their crucial capex programmes can
be funded, adding that even on its new numbers, the sector does not look overly cheap."

NWG goes ex-dividend tomorrow 15th Aug.

Yet another 'Vague rumour' of a possible takeover, but maybe just wishful thinking by some eager journalist! (FT)
Not too bad a graph in comparison with many other stocks & hopefully the divi will be maintained in dec.

MoneyAM
"Northumbrian Water expects second-half revenues to be around 4m (1%) down on the first half as a result of the current economic downturn.

Trading has otherwise been in line with expectations, the group says in its interim statement for 1 October 2008 to 8 February 2009.

Results for the year ending 31 March will be announced on 3 June. "

StockMarketWire.com
Northumbrian Water said trading since April 1 has been in line with expectations.

Water and sewerage charges at the group's principal subsidiary have increased by 5.3% for 2010/11.

Operating costs for the 12 months to end-March 2011 are forecast to increase by around 4%.

The group said it continues to have a strong funding position with sufficient resources to meet all requirements to the end of 2011.

Discussions with the European Investment Bank for a new loan facility of 150m are at an advanced stage.

The group's cash position at 30th June was 200m. Net debt is expected to be around 2.3bn at March 2011 and gearing levels are not forecast to be materially different from the position reported in June.

Results for the six months ending 30th September will be announced on 30th November.

Harry - these fell off my list ages ago - looking good.

It appears that yesterday was a poor time for HSBC to cut Northumbrian Water and Pennon to neutral from overweight. Someone also cut SVT as well..... all heralding the largest moves in the sector for some time!

Next ex-divi date is 11th Aug '10, 8.85p.

JP Morgans note out today:
We are downgrading Northumbrian Water (NWG) to Neutral from Overweight. The shares have performed strongly both absolute, and relative to the UK water sector over the last 3 months (+10.9% and +3.5% respectively). On our numbers NWG is now trading on a March 2012 premium to RAV of 8.8%, which is broadly in line with the UK water sector average of 9.7%.

Overall, we are becoming more cautious on the UK water sector. The sector has outperformed the market by 7.5% over the past three months and 4.0% over the past month. We think this has been driven by high UK inflation expectations and lower real gilt yields. However, real gilt yields have recently started to rise again (+8bps in the last week).
On a more fundamental basis we expect the newsflow from the upcoming results season (starting with Pennon tomorrow) to be quite challenging. We have downgraded our March 12 EPS estimates for the companies by between 4% (UU) and 9% (PNN) due to higher interest costs (reflecting the impact of higher RPI on the index-linked principal accrual). For PNN we have assumed 5m of additional costs due to the adoption of private sewers, in line with company guidance. However, the other water companies are yet to provide guidance and so the additional opex from the adoption of private sewers is not yet included in our 2011/12 estimates for them.