Britain's Most Admired Companies 2011: Utilities sector

By MT Staff Wednesday, 30 November 2011

Utilities: everyone's two favourite spots on the Monopoly board and with good reason. It's a safe sector in a turbulent world. But which firms garner most (and least) respect from their rivals?

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A stable sector in a turbulent year, four out of last year's top five have made it back for 2011. Centrica - the firm behind British Gas – made £1.3bn first-half profit but issued a warning in November. Pennon Group, owner of South West Water and waste management business Viridor, posted profits of £188.5m on revenues of £1.16bn in 2011. First-half profits at National Grid – whose new chairman Sir Peter Gershon takes over in January – are up 2% to £935m, and Scottish & Southern Energy has scrapped ‘confusing’ tariffs, to the Energy 52.6 A stable sector in a turbulent year, four out of last year’s top five have made it back for 2011. Centrica – the firm behind British delight of consumers (and energy minister Chris Huhne). Its reward is that planning permission has just been granted for a new power station in West Yorkshire.

BMAC 2011 by sector: Utilities

	QMan	Rank	FS	Rank	QG&S	Rank	AAT	Rank
Centrica	7.1	2	7.7	1	7.0	1	6.9	3
E.on UK	5.3	9	5.5	9	6.0	8	5.4	9
EDF Energy	5.4	8	5.9	7	6.4	4	5.6	8
International Power	6.1	5	6.2	6	6.1	6	6.0	5
National Grid	6.5	3	7.3	2	6.9	3	7.0	1
npower	4.6	10	4.7	10	5.3	10	5.0	10
Pennon Group	7.7	1	6.7	3	6.9	2	6.9	2
Scottish & Southern Energy*	6.5	3	5.8	8	6.4	5	6.2	4
Seven Trent	5.7	7	6.7	4	6.0	7	5.7	7
United Utilities	6.1	5	6.4	5	5.9	9	5.8	6
	6.1		6.3		6.3		6.0

(Continued)

	VLTI	Rank	CI	Rank	QMar	Rank	C&ER	Rank	UCA	Rank	TOTAL	Rank
Centrica	6.0	5	6.7	2	8.0	1	6.4	5	6.2	4	62.0	1
E.on UK	5.3	8	5.6	6	6.1	3	6.1	8	5.8	6	51.1	8
EDF Energy	5.2	9	5.8	5	6.4	2	6.8	2	5.1	10	52.6	5
International Power	5.9	6	5.1	8	4.4	10	5.1	10	6.1	5	50.9	9
National Grid	7.4	1	6.0	4	4.7	9	6.6	3	6.3	2	58.7	3
npower	4.7	10	5.0	9	4.9	6	5.7	9	5.3	9	45.2	10
Pennon Group	7.1	2	6.8	1	5.4	5	7.3	1	6.4	1	61.2	2
Scottish & Southern Energy*	6.3	3	6.2	3	5.8	4	6.3	7	6.2	3	55.7	4
Seven Trent	5.7	7	5.1	7	4.7	8	6.4	6	5.8	6	51.9	7
United Utilities	6.0	4	5.0	10	4.8	7	6.6	4	5.7	8	52.2	6
	6.0		5.7		5.5		6.3		5.9		541.6

Key
QMan FS QG&S AAT VLTI CI Q Mar C&ER UCA	Quality of Management Financial Soundness Quality of Goods & Services Ability to Attract, Develop and Retain Top Talent Value as a Long Term Investment Capacity to Innovate Quality of Marketing Community and Environmental Responsibility Use of Corporate Assets