Business
Thames Water halts plans to hand £2.5m retention bonuses to bosses
Thames Water has decided not to go ahead with almost £2.5 million in controversial payments to senior bosses.
The debt-laden utilities giant faced a political outcry over plans to hand out the money.
Thames Water was expected to hand £2.46 million to 21 senior executives in so-called retention awards to encourage them to stay with the business.
However, the company has deferred this until further notice following talks between directors in recent days.
The deferment, which was first reported by Sky News, comes after the 21 executives received a previous £2.46 million worth of payments earlier this year.
Chris Weston, Thames Water’s chief executive, was not among those set to receive a bonus and is already the subject of a bonus ban from industry regulator Ofwat.
Thames Water has declined to comment.
Alistair Carmichael, chairman of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Select Committee, contacted the company in recent weeks raising concerns over the plans for further payments and asked for confirmation about whether the money would be handed out.
On Tuesday, he said: “It’s important that the focus of Thames management is on turning round the company and not on rewarding staff and having to handle negative headlines.
“The public is rightly furious at the prospect of senior staff in a company with the performance record of Thames receiving bonuses.
“We will continue to monitor this situation.”
It comes a fortnight after Thames Water said it was still locked in talks over its proposed rescue with creditors.
Britain’s biggest water supplier, with around 16 million customers, said discussions were “positive” but ongoing with the Government and regulators to agree a deal to turn around the firm and repair its stricken finances.
Half-year results from the provider revealed underlying earnings surged to £1.2 billion for the six months to September 30, compared with £715.1 million a year ago.
Revenues rose by 42% thanks to bill increases, which it said also helped fund £1.3 billion of capital investment to fix leaks, cut sewage spills and improve water quality.
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The BSE Sensex is trading higher by 371 points, or 0.47%, at 81,090.24, while the NSE Nifty rises by 70 points to trade above 24,850 at 24,889.25.
Stock Market Today.
Market Updates Today: A day after the market crash following the Budget’s provision to hike Securities Transaction Tax (STT), the domestic equity market on Monday saw heightened volatility. After opening nearly flat, the NSE Nifty rose to the day’s high, then touched the day’s low before sharply recovering to trade at the day’s high of 25,093.
As of 3:16 pm, the BSE Sensex surged by 932 points, or up 1.13%, to 81,641.87 in the afternoon trade and the NSE Nifty rose by 267 points, or up 1.07%, to trade above 25,000 at 25,093.27. After opening nearly flat, the NSE Nifty rose to the day’s high, then touched the day’s low before sharply recovering to trade at the day’s high of 25,093.27.
Among the 30 Sensex shares, 25 stocks were trading in the green. Among the top gainers were PowerGrid, Adani Ports, BEL, Reliance, Mahindra & Mahindra, Larsen & Toubro, and IndiGo, rising by up to 7.91%. The laggards were Axis Bank, Infosys, Titan, TCS, and Trent, falling by up to 1.97%.
After opening nearly flat, at around 9:30 am, the BSE Sensex jumped by 350 points to 81,112.03 in the opening trade, while the NSE Nifty rose 91 points to trade above the 24,900 level at 24,910.85. However, the benchmarks gave up all gains and declined to day’s low amid heavy volatility.
Aakash Shah, technical research analyst at Choice Equity Broking Private Ltd, said, “Near-term sentiment remains cautious despite some support from domestic technical indicators. The broader market direction will largely be influenced by global equity cues, crude oil price movements, and institutional fund flows.”
On Sunday, the Nifty saw an aggressive sell-off after the Budget 2026 announcement to hike STT, plunging nearly 870 points from 25,440 to an intraday low of 24,571, before staging a partial recovery to close at 24,825.
“A strong bearish candle was formed, with the index closing decisively below the 200-day EMA, indicating a deterioration in trend strength. Immediate resistance is placed at 24,950–25,000, while key support lies in the 24,650-24,700 zone. The RSI slipped to 31, reflecting oversold conditions, while India VIX surged 10.73% to 15.09, highlighting elevated market volatility,” Shah said.
On Sunday, February 1, foreign institutional investors (FIIs) sold equities worth Rs 588 crore, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) also remained net sellers, offloading shares worth Rs 682 crore, adding to the pressure on the market.
V K Vijayakumar, chief investment strategist at Geojit Investments Ltd, said, “Yesterday’s market selloff resulting in 495 point crash in Nifty was a knee-jerk reaction to the sharp increase in STT on F&O trades. This was not a revenue-raising measure, but a decision to discourage retail traders from complex F&O trading, in which 92% of them were losing money. This decision is in the interest of retail investors. But this decision impacted the market sentiments, which were already impacted by the decision to make no changes in the LTCGs tax, which a section of the market was expecting rather unrealistically.”
It is important to understand that the Budget is a growth-oriented Budget with fiscal prudence. The 10% nominal GDP growth projected in the Budget is achievable and has the potential to deliver around 15% earnings growth in FY27. The market will soon start discounting this positive. But it is possible that FIIs may continue to sell impacting the market. Retail investors should keep their cool and remain invested and continue to invest systematically. A significant upturn in the market may take time; perhaps a retreat from AI trade globally. We don’t know when this will happen. But we know that an earnings rebound is imminent in response to this growth oriented Budget. That is a clear positive, he added.
February 02, 2026, 09:34 IST
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