Water chief set to retire

UNITED Utilities’s boss is retiring after 12 years.

Steve Mogford will step down early next year, having taken the chief executive role at the water company in 2011.

He will be replaced by Louise Beardmore, the company’s customer service and people director, who will join the board at the end of this week.

Mogford, 65, was paid £2.9m last year and has earned nearly £24m since taking the job.

Chairman Sir David Higgins said Beardmore ‘was the outstanding candidate in a rigorous selection process including internal and external candidates’.