Morning, everybody, and welcome to our half-year results presentation. I'm Lou Beardmore, Chief Executive of United Utilities, and this morning I'm joined by our CFO, Phil Aspin. I'll start providing an update on our operational performance and the great start that we've made to AMP8, before handing over to Phil, who will pick up on our financial performance. We look forward to answering any questions that you may have during the Q&A session at 9:00 A.M. this morning. As we step through the detail today, there are three key messages. The first is that we've made a really good start to year one of the AMP, with strong operational and financial performance, all in line with expectations. Number two, our AMP8 program is going well, with over 100 suppliers mobilized. Looking ahead, we see the emergence of new investment drivers on the horizon.
And number three, we're really well positioned to benefit from the transformative period for the sector. We are delivering record levels of investment that are supporting over 30,000 jobs and driving significant regional economic growth. So, starting with performance for the first half of the year, I'm really pleased with the strong start that we've made to AMP8 and the way that the team is adapting to the larger program of works that we have planned for the next five years. We continue to see a drumbeat of steady performance, improvements that are happening across water, wastewater, bioresources, and customer services. And we're on track to deliver a net ODI reward over the AMP. As you were aware, the first year of the AMP, we will be in a net penalty as the investment ramps up to deliver the new targets.
The areas of immediate focus for us are on leakage and water quality, and reducing spills and pollution in wastewater. We've ramped up our leakage activity with levels of Find and Fix 30% higher than at this time last year, and despite a dry spring, our effective management of the water system and accelerated activities avoided a Temporary Use Ban. Our customers and the environment were protected by our interconnected network, making the most of the rain when it did fall, and on storm overflows, we're making really great progress. With a circa 40% reduction year to date, we're on track to meet our performance commitment in 2025. Our targeted interventions have delivered around 10,000 fewer spills so far this year, and we're making significant progress towards our long-term target to reduce spills by over 60% in the decade to 2030.
And in this half, our customer performance has been a real highlight. Our cash collection tracking is all in line with expectations, and at the same time, we have doubled affordability support, proactively supporting over 400,000 customers so far this year. We have achieved a reward status across all three measures of customer experience, which relate to Domestic Retail, Business, and Developer Services, and one of the few companies to do so. In terms of financial performance, EPS has almost doubled to GBP 0.528, and we've maintained our gearing at 60%. Phil will take you through some of the financials in more detail shortly. As I said earlier, this AMP marks record investment for UU. Our AMP8 capital program is off to a great start, and we are on track with delivery. The plan provides a huge boost to the Northwest economy.
As I've said, it supports 30,000 jobs across United Utilities and the wider supply chain. And our capital program is in great shape. We're on track to spend around GBP 1.5 billion in FY26, delivering RCV growth of 7%, which is in line with our guidance for AMP8. As I've said in the past, this is largely underpinned by environmental drivers that are set out in the Environment Act 2021. Beyond AMP8, our growth trajectory continues with an increased and much-needed focus on asset health and resilience. As you are all aware, the Independent Commission that's been led by Sir Jon Cunliffe was tasked by the government to develop a set of recommendations to reform the regulatory system. The final report was published in July and set out 88 recommendations to drive fundamental change in the industry.
While there is a long way to go in the review process, we're really encouraged to see that five recommendations have already been adopted, including the creation of a new single regulator, recognition that investors need a fair and reasonable return on investment, and the establishment of a regional element within the new regulator to ensure greater local involvement. Our current expectation is that the government will publish its response to the commission's report in December via a transition plan and alongside a white paper on future reforms, an Interim Strategic Policy Statement, and a Ministerial Direction to the Environment Agency. I'm sure you're going to have plenty of questions in terms of what to expect next, and I'll be happy to take those questions after the presentation later today. I'll now hand you over to Phil to talk you through the financials.
Terrific. Many thanks, Lou. Now let's move on to the financials for the second half. At the headline level, underlying EPS broadly doubled in the half, driven by a step up in regulated revenue under a regulatory contract, with costs holding flat, which I'll step through in a moment. The capital program is tracking really well, with capital investment in line with our expectations, underpinned by a strong balance sheet, which retains plenty of headroom, with gearing steady at the midpoint of our target range. And finally, our dividend policy remains unchanged, with the uplift to GBP 0.1788 for the second half, aligned to CPIH inflation. Now turning to the underlying operating profit bridge. Underlying operating profit increased 67% on the prior half year, which was in line with our expectations at the start of the year.
This was driven by a step up in regulated revenue, which rose 21%, or GBP 227 million, to a touch over GBP 1.3 billion. Operating costs were broadly flat compared to the prior half year. As I announced at the full year, we are now allocating more infrastructure renewals expenditures to CapEx, which had a beneficial impact on our operating costs of around GBP 70 million. This was offset by higher operating costs as the expansionary impact of the AMP8 TOTEX program hit the P&L, and inflationary pressures flowed into employee costs, power, and materials. Importantly, the inflationary increase in operating costs are either directly captured under the TOTEX mechanism or in other end-of-AMP ex post adjustment mechanisms for costs such as power. Now, our balance sheet continues to demonstrate our financial strength, with gearing at 60%.
RCV has grown to 16 billion, up from 15.4 billion at the end of March, and net debt is at 9.6 billion. Our capital program is on track, with CapEx developing as expected. And in the first half of this financial year, we raised GBP 700 million of term funding, GBP 520 million in the public bond markets, including a EUR 500 million green public bond issued in August, and GBP 175 million of committed renewed bank credit facilities, providing GBP 3 billion of liquidity. As a result, we now have liquidity in place through to the second half of FY28. Our financial framework is unchanged, and I'm pleased to say that our performance to date is in line with expectations. If anything, the inflationary backdrop has placed us in a slightly stronger position than we expected at the start of the year, from both a balance sheet and a returns perspective.
Now, before I sum up, a brief look at our technical guidance, which is largely unchanged from the result in May. The only exceptions are the first-time introduction of EPS guidance, which is set at around 100 pence per share, and a small adjustment to our CapEx guidance, which is now expected to be broadly in the region of GBP 1.5 billion, reflecting a tweak to the phasing of the capital program. So, in summary, it's been a really strong start to AMP8, and I'm really pleased with the progress we're making to deliver our capital budget and generating returns for our shareholders. The highlight today is our EPS, which is set to double this year to around 100 pence, supported by a quality first half performance equating to a rock-solid payout ratio on our dividend of around 50%.
We're also on track to deliver on the 7% RCV growth this year, in line with our AMP8 guidance, and supported by a strong balance sheet with gearing in the midpoint of our range, 55%-65%. And with that, I'll hand back to Lou and look forward to taking any questions you might have in Q&A later. Thank you.
Brilliant. Thanks, Phil. So, to summarize, we've made a really great start to year one of the AMP, with strong operational and financial performance all in line with expectations. Our AMP8 program is going well, with over 100 suppliers mobilised, and as I've mentioned before, looking ahead, we see the emergence of new investment drivers. This is a transformative period for the sector, and we are very well positioned to benefit as we deliver record levels of investment, supporting over 30,000 jobs and driving significant economic regional growth here in the Northwest. Finally, I'd like to thank all of our team here at UU for all their hard work as we've stepped into the challenges and the huge opportunities of delivering an ambitious and exciting program, one of growth and improvement for everybody here in the Northwest. Thank you.