Water company shows improved results

It was always considered the most troubled of the three major public utilities and was the last to be sold to private interests. But while Belize Water Services Limited still has a long way to go, its numbers are at least beginning to improve. At the company’s annual general meeting tonight B.W.S. will report a nine point seven percent increase in sales and a significant improvement in the bottom line with an operating profit of almost four million dollars and a net loss after interest and taxes of four hundred and sixty thousand dollars. This compares to a net loss of over three point six million dollars a year ago. A high level of debt remains a problem, with outstanding loans up nine million dollars to a total of sixty-one million. Eighty-three percent of the company’s shares are held by the Netherlands based multinational water giant CASCAL, with ten percent owned by the Belize Social Security Board, and the remaining seven percent by local individuals and institutions.