Severn Trent (LON:SVT) has increased their dividend as the water company enjoyed higher revenues in the year to 31st March, although profit fell due to exceptional costs.

Severn Trent shares rose tentatively on Wednesday morning as the group increased its dividend 7.2% to 100.08p. This would equate to a 4.1% yield with shares trading at 2,415p.

Exceptional costs meant profit after tax reported fell 49.6% to £159 million.

However, the underlying business was strong and revenue was 4.3% higher at £1,844m due to RPI-linke price increases and increased revenue from business services.

“Operationally, this has been another year where we have delivered for all of our stakeholders. However, the last few weeks have been extraordinary; not only for our business, but for the country,” said Liv Garfield, Chief Executive of Severn Trent.

Liv Garfield continued to thank the Severn Trent team; “I want to say thank you to all of my awesome colleagues; it has been a challenging time, and across each and every part of the business, they have shown amazing commitment to ensuring our customers have continued access to one of life’s essentials. We know that this is a difficult time for our customers, and I am incredibly proud of the ways in which the business has responded. We also understand that for many people this will be a difficult time financially, and we have stepped up our support for those on our Priority Services Register and customers that need extra help with their bills.”

“Our business remains strong and we have made further progress against the things that really matter to our customers with leakage, supply interruptions and water quality complaints all improving. We have invested £3 billion in our long- term future over the past five years and are now very focused on emerging from this crisis in the best possible shape to deliver against the exciting plans we have set out for the next five years.”