SEVERN Trent said it failed to meet its annual leakage target after the coldest December in 100 years caused a surge in the number of broken pipes.

The water company, which serves 8m customers in the heart of the UK, matched last year’s leakage performance, but failed to meet regulator Ofwat’s tougher target for daily leakage rates during 2010-2011.

Severn Trent blamed its first above-target leakage performance for five years on two periods of freezing temperatures followed by a thaw. It pledged to invest more money to make its system more resilient this year.

The group said underlying profits fell by 14.7% to £288.6m in the year to March 31. Revenues in its regulated water business rose by 0.3% to £1.4bn after Ofwat imposed a 0.7% drop in prices.