Thames Water will 'run out of money'

TROUBLED FIRM HAS DEBTS OF MORE THAN £15 BILLION

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THAMES Water has warned that it will run out of money by the end of next May, as the heavily indebted company intensifies efforts to secure fresh funding.

Britain's biggest water firm, which is creaking under a debt pile of more than £15 billion, said yesterday that it had £1.8bn of cash reserves at the end of June, a fall from £2.4bn three months previously.

The firm said it is still looking for new funds needed to maintain and update its infrastructure, after investors pulled the plug on £500 million of emergency cash earlier this year.

Chief executive Chris Weston said Thames had taken "informal soundings which have shown there is interest in the market".

He added that the company will be looking at a "broad church" of potential investors which could include existing shareholders.