[ianch99]

Originally Posted by nomadking

Where people invest in a company, they expect to get their money back

Yes, if this company was trading in a free market but it is not.

As for the Thames Water spin:

Water companies turn back on pledge to not pay dividends/

Some of Britain’s largest water companies have given away hundreds of millions of pounds to shareholders in recent years, despite promises to stop paying dividends.

Southern Water, Thames Water and Yorkshire Water all promised to stop paying dividends to shareholders, after watchdog Ofwat told them to invest in more infrastructure and cut bills.

However, the Sunday Times reported today that the trio had continued to give out hundreds of millions of pounds in dividends in order to service debt obligations.

Thames has paid out £115m over the past two years, while Southern handed out £152.1m in the same time period.