Thames Water says its met its leakage targets
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Thames Water is to increase the amount it spends on maintaining pipes and infrastructure as the company’s new management works to get the business back on track.
The company, which supplies water to 8 million people in London, said today that pre-tax profits fell 22pc to £270m as last year’s drought and higher power costs took their toll.
David Owens, chief executive, said: “These are encouraging results across a range of key financial and operational measures, particularly given the challenges faced by the business over the last reporting year when our region faced one of the worst droughts in a hundred years, and the company’s future ownership was uncertain.”
However, Thames Water insisted that it had met its leakage targets set by regulator Ofwat, which had demanded a minimum leakage target of 213m gallons a day.
Mr Owens added: “There is still much to be done however; operating efficiency requires further improvement and we are spending less than we would like on the capital investment programme, but there are real signs of progress.”
Thames Water said that capital investment to maintain and improve Thames Water’s infrastructure rose 40.6pc to £779m last year and that in a year’s time the company expects to be spending £900m a year to improve its network and process facilities.
Sales increased by 2.7pc to £1.43bn due to price increases agreed with water regulator Ofwat. Thames Water provides drinking water for 8.5m customers and manages wastewater for 13.5m.
It is now owned by Kemble Water, a consortium of institutional investors managed by Macquarie, which bought the business at the end of 2006. It was previously owned by Germany’s RWE.
Rosneft buys YUKOS gas stations from Unitex
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Neft-Aktiv LLC, part of Rosneft oil group, has entered into an agreement with Unitex LLC to buy the gasoline stations in southern Russia that Unitex purchased at a YUKOS bankruptcy auction in May, Rosneft has reported. Under the agreement, Neft-Aktiv paid RUR 16.324 billion (approx. $633.5m) to Unitex for 495 gasoline stations and oil terminals.
Unknown firm Unitex LLC won the twelfth YUKOS bankruptcy auction for 537 gasoline stations and oil terminals in central Russia, including in Moscow. The other bidders were TNK-Yugra, Shell-Neft and Rosneft, which paid a deposit but did not appear at the auction. The starting price was RUR 7.741 billion (approx. $298.9m), and Unitex offered RUR 12.46 billion (approx. $481m). The structure of Unitex remains unknown.
Unitex first came to public notice in the second YUKOS bankruptcy auction, when a 20 percent stake in the bankrupt oil firm was put up for sale. Gazprom said later that the company was not part of it. A source in independent gas producer NOVATEK, which received an option to buy Unitex, said his company had no relations with Unitex, and that the option was for gas assets only, and it had not been exercised.
2010 won’t erase suffering of the masses
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By Farouk Abrahams
South Africa will not be rid of the crime wave after the 2010 World Cup.
Well, for starters, it is not Fifa’s responsibility to eradicate crime in host countries.
World football’s flagship competition has been the catalyst for much infrastructural development, but never before has it been documented that, as a direct result of the month-long event, everyone in the host country lived happily ever after in a crime-free environment.
That’s a pipedream - and the sooner we face that reality the better. Fifa president Sepp Blatter had a full go at international detractors during his whistle-stop visit to the Mother City earlier this week, but little could he have known that the Cape would burn later the same evening courtesy of the latest war between frustrated communities and drug dealers.
Blatter could also not have known that, at about the same time, a helpless little disabled girl would be gang-raped or that another young girl would stab a woman to death or that somewhere on the Flats people were having their houses burgled, some victims being more fortunate than those who lost their lives in the process just last week.
We have a major problem, and World Cup 2010 will not bring the desired relief.
Yes, the 2010 show will deliver a couple of widened roads, bigger airports, better transport systems for some, hordes of tourists and upgraded (football) venues, and so on and so on.
But why must we wait for this wonderful sporting showpiece to be staged here before the authorities inject the missing urgency?
In this country, respect for life had, in fact, diminished a long time ago. In the dark days of apartheid, I lost a younger brother through senseless violence, his charred remains stuck in the front seat of his panel van after thugs had thrown a petrol bomb through the front window.
People blamed the system, saying a loss of dignity and human rights and poverty had led to his death and other tragedies of the time.
Years later, though, we all still live in fear; yes, even the previously advantaged whites who back then could not have imagined nor bothered about a day in the life of a township dweller.
Blatter said we must ignore “those jealous critics who rubbish South Africa’s ability to host a safe World Cup”, and so we should, because it’s not football’s job to ensure that the Promised Land materialise for the citizens of this country.
However, I take huge exception to the nonchalant manner in which the topic of crime is dealt with at press gatherings such as Tuesday’s on the site of the new Green Point Stadium.
Claiming that crime was rife all over the world anyway is tantamount to ignoring the plight of the local people and is no way of dealing with the scourge on our shores. It was a rather short-sighted view which does nothing to ease the pain and suffering of the masses.
Ultimately, though, the government and the police have to heed the desperate cries. They owe it to the people to find the solutions because it’s downright dangerous out there. And calling on the poor communities to do more is simply passing the buck, and this week proved exactly the dangers attached to empowering ordinary people who have spent most of their lives in fear.
Try solving the crime problem in your area after a tough day at work - with a family to feed and keep safe - or, even worse, a day spent begging for work or for food. Is that not exactly why, as a civilized society, we have law enforcers?
I have been privy to the wonderful atmosphere of the previous two World Cups and there’s absolutely no comparison. But then how much joy would 2010 bring to the then victims of especially violent crimes?
Would hosting the planet’s multi-millionaire star footballers mean a damn thing should life remain so cheap?
YouTube Launches Universally Accessible Mobile Site
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After launching mobile services with both Verizon Wireless and Vodafone back in November 2006 and February this year respectively, YouTube has now launched a mobile version of its website accessible to any mobile handset user on any carrier.
The new mobile version of the site, accessed by browsing to http://m.youtube.com with a mobile phone web browser, provides a selection of videos from the Featured, Recently Added, Most Viewed, Top Rated, Top Favorites, Entertainment, and People categories. The interface also allows access to a ‘Grab Bag’ of random videos.
Videos are provided in the 3GP format, which is playable on the vast majority of mobile handsets produced in recent years. The site does warn that the videos are data intensive, and an unlimited data plan is recommended.
UK Faces “Knowledge Gap” Time-Bomb
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The UK faces the risk of a yawning knowledge gap: the amount of new infrastructure required in the UK outstrips the knowledge available to build it. According to a new research paper issued by LogicaCMG, if effective knowledge management practices are not implemented, UK industry could see £2.6 (US$5.1) billion of projects under threat due to a lack of expert knowledge amongst staff.
Over the next few years the UK will invest billions of pounds on large-scale energy and utility projects. The knowledge-intensive nature of the work required to make such projects a reality means their success could be directly impacted by the knowledge gap, putting them at risk of delays or even failure.
Judith Halkerston, managing director of LogicaCMG’s UK energy & utilities business said: “Knowledge is crucial in ensuring that vital infrastructure projects are completed on time and within budget. The research has shown that on average, a quarter of business costs could be saved by more effective knowledge management, which could save the utilities sector alone £3 billion annually.”
LogicaCMG research conducted with large firms in the UK energy, utilities and allied industries market, found that 70% of UK companies anticipate the emergence of a knowledge gap within just five years. The critical importance of effective knowledge management was fully appreciated by most companies, with 92% of respondents reporting that technical expertise is a key intellectual property required for sustained growth.
However, 69% of companies have little or no knowledge management processes and provisions in place.
Ms Halkerston added: “The scale and scope of the UK’s emerging knowledge gap and its potential impact on business and the economy should not be underestimated. Our research found that 90 per cent of companies are aware of the issue, but very few have a solution in place. Without immediate action the UK’s knowledge gap could become too large to bridge.”
“Promoting good knowledge management and sharing is key to maintaining the profitability of a business and must lie at the heart of a company’s culture. Simple Knowledge Management practices deliver results, increase competitive advantage and are the secret weapon in the fight against the knowledge gap.”
Interview: Paul Cook, CEO of PositiveFeedback
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Paul Cook is CEO of PositiveFeedback, a firm that provides targeting tools for online retailers and for ad agencies.
Where do you start with targeting?
There are two areas to start with for onsite behavioural targeting: collaborative filtering (’people who bought X also bought Y’) and promotions. Matching up offers of the week to particular customers allows the problem to be simplified and, if they complement each other well, it can provide great results.
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How easy is it to set up, how long does it take and how long before you see results?
First of all the site needs to be tagged in order for the data to be collected. While this is theoretically easy, most companies find getting tags implemented can be quite painfully slow. That’s why we’ve come up with a universal tagging product as part of our solution that allows the data captured in our tags to be used by other third party solutions.
Once the tags are in place and the offers loaded into the system it will probably take a month or so before you start to see significant uplift. It all depends on how much data you have, how good the placements are being optimised and how the offers complement each other.
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Who owns the data – you or the client?
95% of the data is owned by the client or agency but we do have a small amount of anonymous data that we share accross all clients. This indicates how responsive people are to promotions and translates into a top level behavioural segmentation of clickers, responders etc. More specific data about interests and product purchases is not shared between clients.
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Should targeting be implemented on websites with clear usability issues, or should people get their house in order before approaching firms like yours?
It is important that when an offer is made the consumer sees it so that we can learn from the fact they did not respond. Provided that the offer is on a page that is not too cluttered, targeting can provide benefits.
However, if a site has a fundamental problem that is affecting conversion then a redesign would probably produce better returns. Personalisation is really the next stage after getting the basics right.
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Do you find it surprising that more targeting isn’t used in online advertising?
When I first started selling ads, which is how I got into new media, I was staggered that at that point in time, nobody could measure the response to an ad. Over time, we have seen people measure clicks and post-impression and all these sorts of things.
It does seem strange now that people are willing to put up five ads and show them to people on a random basis, even though there is this data available. They may show someone an ad again and again, even though they haven’t responded to it, and they may show someone an ad after they have already responded it. It is quite bizarre that this sort of technology hasn’t been done before but I’m sure everyone will be doing it going forward. Our software will automatically work out that one ad is generating much more interest, and will naturally start serving that ad.
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How are ad agencies currently using behavioural targeting, as opposed to publishers?
There are a few things going on in the marketplace. The definition of behavioural targeting is a bit blurred – sometimes you scratch the surface and it is just normal targeting. I have seen targeting by ISP or by IP address counted as behavioural targeting, although I wouldn’t call it that.
What we do, rather than build up a segmentation of people, is essentially optimising placements for advertisers. Most of the solutions out there at the moment are for portals and publishers to help them sell more ads, and to try and get a higher CPM for people that they know are interested in skiing, for example.
What we are about is automatically using that data to change which creative is shown to someone, so that they see something they are more likely to click and respond to. Our solution isn’t about trying to capture interest from the consumer, so we don’t tend to try to share data across sites. We allow companies to optimise their advertising automatically.
Cookie-based profiling is something we would look to add in the future, but just as another thing we could optimise on. But for the time being, we use basic behavioural data, such as which ads they have clicked on in the past.
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Can you give a rough guide to the uplift that’s possible?
It’s difficult to predict exactly what kind of result you will get – it depends on a number of factors. We would aim for somewhere in the region of 10% or more – but some clients maybe more, some sites maybe less.
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Moving on to your targeting tools for online retailers, could you provide a quick summary of how they work and which techniques are seeing the most interest from retailers?
We allow people to automate the process of using data within their marketing. It collects data about what people are doing on websites – what they are looking at and what they have purchased - and then feeds it into a personalisation algorithm which works out which products they are likely to buy. You can come to us if you want to dip your toe in the water and start using that data to cross-sell and up-sell to customers on your website, and do it on a cost-per-recommendation basis.
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Which categories of products see the biggest effect on conversion rates from personalisation, in your experience?
Some work really well and others have no uplift at all. Obviously books and films work well. There’s a website called Movielens that I’ve been a big fan of over the years. It’s a project from one of the big universities in the US [the University of Minnesota] and it recommends films that you might like based on your ratings of other films. It predicts what rating you would give a film.
I think those sorts of purchases are far more simple, so it’s easier to capture the essence of what is driving the customer’s decision. When you buy a car, there are a lot of factors that come into the equation – top speed, build quality, safety, image and so on. It’s very complicated. But when you get a book, the only thing you are worried about is the content – not whether the book will fall apart or after sales warranties.
There are far fewer things to base your decision on, whereas with a car, there are probably hundreds. With films, again, it’s less about lifestyle and more about personal choice. But that’s not to say that personalisation wouldn’t work with cars. The fact that you have bought a certain car in the past will dictate what you buy in the future. It can work in other categories, but it just works particularly well where there is less going on as far as the purchaser is concerned.
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Which items work and don’t work with Amazon-style last-minute recommendations at the checkout?
As far as ‘people that bought this also bought’ recommendations go, sites are trying to make a quick buck at the till so lower unit cost items work particularly well.
Books, DVDs and CDs work well for that, but higher ticket items don’t work as well. You’re not going to spontaneously sell a fridge to someone, for example, but that’s not to say that you can’t use personalisation to sell fridges. You can use it to help people identify which fridge they want if they are looking for one.
The idea of what we are providing is we have past purchase data available and when sites need a decision to be taken, the data and the algorithm are there to make it. That data can be used for these types of ‘people that bought this also bought’ recommendations, or for selecting a specific promotion for a purchaser, or for ordering a list of fridges in likely preference.
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Do you see privacy becoming more an issue for consumers as adoption of personalisation tools increases?
I consciously use Amazon because it bothers to remember my data and make my browsing experience better as a result. Because we aren’t creating profiles across sites, there are fewer privacy issues around what we do, and ultimately, people can opt out. There is a section on our website where they can opt out.
Ultimately, it is about driving down the cost of marketing, which therefore allows clients to pass that onto the consumer and lower prices. And if you talk to people, they just assume it is happening. When I speak to people outside the industry, they are quite surprised that this isn’t common practice.