National Grid Pretax Profit Falls, Adjusted Operating Profit Misses Consensus

By Anthony O. Goriainoff

National Grid said its fiscal first-half pretax profit fell as adjusted operating profit missed consensus, and that it expects new U.K. legislation to weigh on underlying earnings per share.

The U.K. electricity-transmission network operator said Thursday that for the six months ended September, pretax profit was 1.25 billion pounds ($1.54 billion) compared with GBP1.67 billion the year before.

Underlying operating profit--which excludes exceptional items, remeasurements and timing--fell 15% to GBP1.8 billion, the company said. Company-compiled consensus for the metric was GBP4.48 billion. National Grid said this was due to non-recurring items reported in fiscal 2023.

Revenue fell to GBP8.49 billion from GBP9.44 billion.

National Grid declared an interim dividend of 19.40 pence a share, up from 17.84 pence a year earlier.

The company said that although new capital allowances legislation will affect adjusted EPS by 6 pence to 7 pence a share it doesn't see an economic impact over the long term.

The company updated its financial outlook over the five-year period to 2026. National Grid raised its total cumulative capital investment to up to GBP42 billion from prior guidance of GBP40 billion.

Write to Anthony O. Goriainoff at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

November 09, 2023 02:52 ET (07:52 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2023 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.