Southern Water has issued an official statement rebutting claims made by Lib Dem MP for Eastbourne Josh Babarinde regarding profits, dividends and bathing water quality in the town.

The water company has issued the clarification following media coverage about bathing water on ITV Meridian last weekend which included a comment by the Eastbourne Lib Dem MP, Josh Babarinde, suggesting that Southern Water makes “enormous profits” and has been paying “big dividends” to shareholders.

The statement says:

“Neither of these claims is accurate.

“Southern Water has in fact made an operating loss, not profit, for the past three years, because we chose to make additional investment into the business through our Turnaround Plan.

“Shareholders haven’t been paid a dividend since 2017. We don’t expect to pay any dividends until 2030 at the earliest and will only do so then if the business is performing well and meeting the expectations of our customers.

“Southern Water has received more than £1.65 billion in investment from our shareholders over the last four years and will receive at least £655 million more equity over the next few months.

“We are pleased to confirm that bathing water in Eastbourne is classified as ‘Good’ by the Environment Agency, reflecting the progress we are making to improve water quality along the coast. Contrary to media reports, it has been Good for two years, and we await the Agency’s ratings for 2025 shortly.

“Southern Water’s teams continue to work hard on improving bathing water quality, which is affected by many factors, and is rightly a priority for our customers and for campaigners.”