Who runs Thames Water Utilities Limited

analysisCompanies House lists thirteen current officers of Thames Water Utilities Limited (TWUL) — twelve directors and a company secretary — among 160 officer records, 147 of them resignations. The directors and their appointment dates are Ian Pearson (1 September 2014), Nick Land (6 February 2017), Catherine Lynn (28 November 2018), Sir Adrian Montague (10 July 2023), Chris Weston (8 January 2024), Aidan de Brunner (1 September 2024), Neil Robson (2 October 2024), Julian Gething (22 January 2025), Adam Banks, Andrew McNaughton and Nirmal Kotecha (all 28 March 2025) and Steve Buck (7 April 2025); Andrew Fraiser has been company secretary since 27 March 2024. According to the company, the board consists of the chair, Sir Adrian Montague, the chief executive, Chris Weston, the chief financial officer, Steve Buck, and eight independent non-executive directors — Land, Lynn, Pearson, de Brunner, Robson, Banks, McNaughton and Kotecha — with Julian Gething as chief restructuring officer; the fixed terms of the independent directors appointed in 2024 and 2025 run to 2027 and 2028, whereas shareholder-appointed directors had no fixed end date. ^{1 2 3}

analysisIan Pearson, an independent director since 1 September 2014, was a Labour member of the House of Commons from 15 December 1994 to 6 May 2010, for Dudley West and then Dudley South. The UK Parliament's record lists his government posts: assistant whip and Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury (2001–2003), Parliamentary Under-Secretary at the Northern Ireland Office (2002–2005), Minister of State for Trade (2005–2006), Minister of State for Climate Change and the Environment at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (5 May 2006 to 28 June 2007), Minister of State for Science and Innovation (2007–2008), Parliamentary Under-Secretary at the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (2008–2009) and Economic Secretary to the Treasury (5 October 2008 to 6 May 2010). ^{1 4}

analysisThe last directors representing shareholders left in 2024: Michael McNicholas, who represented the Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System (OMERS), on 16 May 2024, and John Holland-Kaye, who represented the Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS) and had joined on 1 April 2023, on 31 December 2024; by December 2024 all the shareholder-appointed directors had resigned, after the conditions of the shareholders' support letter for £500 million of new equity were not met. Mr McNicholas, on TWUL's board since 1 July 2019, had also been a director of Thames Water Utilities Holdings Limited (TWUHL), Thames Water Limited, Kemble Water Finance, Kemble Water Eurobond and Kemble Water Holdings from 4 April 2019 to 23 March 2023. The independent directors Jill Shedden (from 1 October 2018) and Hannah Nixon (from 14 January 2021) left on 30 September 2024 and 3 March 2025, and the chief financial officer Alastair Cochran, who attended 26 of the 28 board meetings in 2024/25, left the board on 27 March 2025, succeeded by Steve Buck on 7 April 2025. ^{1 2 3 4 5}

analysisA newspaper reported on 17 May 2024 that OMERS had written off its entire investment in Thames Water and, the day before, withdrawn its board representative when Mr McNicholas, a managing director at OMERS Infrastructure, stepped down; it reported that OMERS Farmoor Singapore, holding roughly a fifth of the company, had marked its assets down from £700 million at the end of 2022 to £321 million at the end of 2023, with a filing anticipating a full write-down of the investment and an outstanding loan. Another newspaper reported the same day that OMERS's annual report fully wrote down its 31.7% stake in Thames Water's parent, valued at £700 million at the end of 2022 and £990 million at the end of 2021. An OMERS Infrastructure spokesperson told the first newspaper that shareholders had concluded Ofwat was not prepared to provide the regulatory support needed for an investable business plan, so no shareholder provided further funding and OMERS's investment had been written off. These figures and the quotation are as the newspapers reported them; OMERS's annual report and the vehicle's filing are not in the archive. TWUL's 2024/25 annual report confirms that Mr McNicholas, who represented OMERS, resigned on 16 May 2024. ^{6 7 1}

analysisTWUL's directors also sit on the other obligor companies' boards. Nick Land joined Thames Water Utilities Finance plc (TWUF) on 22 May 2024 and, with Chris Weston and Ian Pearson, TWUHL on 18 June 2024, the day two shareholder nominees left it; Aidan de Brunner and Neil Robson joined TWUHL and TWUF on 14 November 2024, Julian Gething joined both on 22 January 2025, and Land, de Brunner, Robson and Gething became directors of Thames Water Super Senior Issuer plc on 25 February 2025. TWUF's 2020/21 accounts record three directors in office that year, none with significant contracts with the company beyond service contracts, and a going-concern assessment relying on a letter of support from its parent TWUL. ^{1 2 3 4 5 6}

analysisSir Adrian Montague was also a director of Kemble Water Holdings from 10 July 2023 to 17 February 2024 while chair of TWUL. The shareholders replaced several of their nominees on the Kemble Water Holdings board on 15 January and 8 March 2024, and the company secretary and another nominee left on 27 March 2024. The nominees then left the Kemble boards: at Kemble Water Holdings six resigned on 20 May 2024 and seven more on 8 and 9 July 2024, Nicholas Pike and Paul O'Donnell were appointed on 8 July and Martin Cooke on 9 July, and on 12 July 2024 the company filed a resolution altering its articles with new articles; it now has three directors — Cooke, O'Donnell and Pike — and no secretary, among 135 officer records. Pike and O'Donnell had joined Kemble Water Finance and Thames Water (Kemble) Finance on 20 May 2024, the day the nominees left those boards; Kemble Water Eurobond's board changed on the same dates as Kemble Water Holdings', and Pike and O'Donnell were also directors of TWUHL from 8 July to 19 November 2024. Norose Company Secretarial Services Limited became secretary of Kemble Water Eurobond and Thames Water (Kemble) Finance on 5 April 2024, when Kemble Water Finance's previous secretary's appointment ended. ^{7 8 9 10 11 12 13 1}

analysisSir Peter Mason chaired both TWUL and Kemble Water Holdings: he signed, as chairman, Thames Water's modern slavery statement for the year to 31 March 2017 and Kemble Water Holdings' supporting statement, and was quoted as Thames Water's chairman in the investor consortium's announcement of 14 March 2017. He was a director of TWUL, Thames Water Limited, Kemble Water Holdings, Kemble Water Finance and Kemble Water Eurobond from 1 December 2006, when Kemble's purchase completed, and of TWUHL from 21 June 2007, until 25 January 2018, and of the intermediate companies Kemble Water Structure, Kemble Water Investments, Thames Water Holdings, Kemble Water Limited and Kemble Water Liberty from 1 December 2006 to 19 March 2014; his other directorships in the register include BAE Systems plc (2003–2013), AMEC Foster Wheeler Limited (1996–2006) and AGS Airports Limited (2014–2021). ^{1 2 3}

analysisEarlier directors in the register include William Alexander (appointed before 24 July 1992, left 16 November 2005), also a director of Thames Water Limited from 1 April 1994 and of TWUF from 1992 to 2002; Craig Anderson (20 September 2001 to 31 January 2005), also of TWUF (2002–2005); Richard Aylard (21 January 2005 to 1 December 2006), whose only other directorships in the register were of water and sanitation charities; Peter Antolik, appointed on 1 December 2006, the day Kemble's purchase completed, until 14 February 2008, later a director of South Staffordshire Water PLC (2018–2025) and Arjun Infrastructure Partners Limited (2019–2026); and Luis Fernando Arana Abraira, a director of TWUL and Kemble Water Holdings in three periods between 2008 and 2012. ^{4 5 6 7 8 9}

analysisSeparate Companies House records in the same full names and month and year of birth as TWUL's directors show Chris Weston as a director of Centrica plc from 1 July 2009 to 30 December 2014 and of British Gas companies, and Steve Buck as a director of Anglian Water Services Limited and other Anglian Water companies from 1 August 2019 to 22 November 2023; the register does not itself link those records to the TWUL appointments, so the match rests on the identical names and birth month and year. Sir Adrian Montague's record shows directorships of Cadent Gas Limited (24 July 2017 to 31 January 2026) and Aviva plc (14 January 2013 to 31 May 2020). Julian Gething has been a member of AlixPartners UK LLP since 4 September 2023; Andrew Fraiser's record shows only his appointment as TWUL's secretary; and Alastair Cochran has been a director of Arqiva Limited and other Arqiva companies since 13 October 2025. ^{1 2 3 4 5 6}

analysisThe independent directors' other current appointments in the register include, for Catherine Lynn, London Southend Airport Company Limited (since 21 May 2024) and associated airport companies; for Adam Banks, Vitality UK Holdings Limited and other Vitality companies (since 30 June 2026), having been a director of TSB Banking Group plc and TSB Bank plc from 8 February 2021 to 30 April 2026; for Aidan de Brunner, Videndum plc (since 31 July 2025) and Crest Nicholson Holdings plc (since 1 October 2026); for Neil Robson, Amphora Intermediate II Limited (since 25 September 2024); for Nirmal Kotecha, Inframonik Advisory Limited (since 7 May 2024), Major Projects Association (since 26 November 2018) and Allora Infrastructure Limited (since 20 February 2026); and for Andrew McNaughton, Sheffield Forgemasters Engineering Limited (since 27 July 2023), Speedy Hire plc (since 1 July 2026), British Steel Limited (since 16 July 2026) and Mott MacDonald Group Limited (since 1 September 2026). Nick Land's record shows only Thames Water group appointments; a separate record in his full name shows a directorship of IHS Holding Limited since 26 January 2022. ^{7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14}

analysisFormer directors' records show Hannah Nixon as a director of The Financial Reporting Council Limited (since 24 June 2021), Worldpay (UK) Limited (since 16 June 2023) and Retail Energy Code Company Limited (since 1 April 2025); Jill Shedden of Spirit Energy Limited (since 1 August 2023); and Michael McNicholas of Scotia Gas Networks Limited and other SGN companies from 28 June 2019 to 23 March 2022. A separate record for John William Holland-Kaye shows a directorship of Heathrow Airport Holdings Limited from 1 July 2014 to 18 October 2023, while his TWUL appointment is recorded as William John Holland-Kaye; the register does not link the two records, which share the surname, given names and month and year of birth. ^{15 16 17 18 19}

analysisTWUL's related-party notes list payments outside the Kemble group to firms connected with its directors. AlixPartners UK LLP, of which the chief restructuring officer Julian Gething is a member, provided services worth £16,343,000 in 2024/25 and £18,469,000 in 2025/26, including £4,209,000 in the six months to 30 September 2025 (nil a year earlier); in that half-year Inframonik Advisory Limited and Major Projects Association, of which Nirmal Kotecha is a director, provided services of £18,000 and £10,000. The 2024/25 note also lists Cadent Gas Limited (£32,000), of which Sir Adrian Montague was then a director, and SGN Commercial Services Limited (£5,839,000), and the 2025/26 note lists Arqiva Limited (£25,872,000), of which the former chief financial officer Alastair Cochran became a director in October 2025. ^{20 21 22 4}

analysisA newspaper reported in January 2025, citing another newspaper, that Thames Water had told Ofwat, in a report of its regulatory strategy committee, that it would raise executives' base salaries if bonuses were restricted, and that the chief executive Chris Weston had defended bonuses worth £770,000 awarded to him and the chief financial officer — including £195,000 to him for his first three months, in early 2024 — as necessary to offer competitive pay packages; the payments drew public criticism from the GMB union and campaigners. The amounts and the committee report are as the newspaper reported them; the 2023/24 remuneration report that would record the payments is not in the archive. According to TWUL's 2024/25 annual report, Ofwat confirmed in October 2024 that customers must not pay for any performance-related pay for 2023/24, and Ofwat's new rule barred bonuses to Thames Water's directors for 2024/25. ^{1 2}