Thames Water has strong financial liquidity - UK regulator

Seeking to ease fears of an imminent collapse, water regulator Ofwat said that Thames Water has 4.4 billion pounds ($5.6 billion) of cash and committed funding, which it characterised as "strong liquidity". Thames Water though does have issues, it said, calling its environmental record "poor".

Britain's biggest water supplier Thames Water has "strong liquidity" but needs to improve its financial resilience and operational performance, the regulator said on Thursday, after emergency talks were held over the company's future.

The government said on Wednesday it was monitoring Thames Water

, which supplies over a quarter of Britain's population, with contingency plans including temporary state ownership as the indebted group fights to secure new funds. Seeking to ease fears of an imminent collapse, water regulator Ofwat said that Thames Water has 4.4 billion pounds ($5.6 billion) of cash and committed funding, which it characterised as "strong liquidity".

Thames Water though does have issues, it said, calling its environmental record "poor". "Alongside the turnaround of their operational performance, they need to improve their financial resilience too," Ofwat said in a statement on Thursday.

Ofwat said it was keeping the financial resilience of water companies in England and Wales under close scrutiny, adding that new investment in the sector had helped companies strengthen their balance sheets over the last three years. ($1 = 0.7909 pounds)