UTILITY giant Severn Trent today posted forecast-beating first half profits as it kept a tight rein on bad debts and made cost savings across the business.

The firm posted underlying pre-tax profits of £188 million for the six months to September 30, 22% ahead of last year and beating City hopes of £180 million.

Severn said it had "worked hard" to hold bad debt levels at 2.3% of turnover and said it was on track to deliver an extra £5 million of cost savings for this year announced in May.

The company serves a population of more than eight million people from the Bristol Channel to the Humber and from mid-Wales to the East Midlands.