National Grid beat interim profit expectations

National Grid plc (LON: NG) have beaten interim profit expectations as highlighted in their most recent trading update published on Thursday.

Shares of National Grid spiked 1.09% to 901p across Thursday trading. 14/11/19 14:21BST.

Underlying profit before tax at the London-listed grid operator dipped 4% to £785 million for the six months ended Sept. 30, but was above the £748 million that analysts had expected.

UK revenue jumped 5% to £2.40 billion, with a strong performance from the UK electricity transmission segment driving operating profit up by 9% to £829 million.

The power company said that for the period ended Sept. 30, pretax profit was £404 million compared with £522 million for the first half of fiscal 2019.

The fact that National Grid have managed to post such impressive results will please shareholders. National Grid have faced a lot of scrutiny after widespread outages in Britain led to an investigation currently undergoing.

The FTSE100 (INDEXFTSE: UKX) listed firm received tough media scrutiny due to inclement weather conditions in August that left more than million customers without power, these customers included hospitals and airports.

National Grid outlined environmental policies by saying that they wanted to reach a net zero target for their own emissions by 2050.

“This objective will be supported by work in other areas, such as offering further energy efficiency programmes for our U.S. customers, proposals for renewable natural gas and hydrogen blending programmes,” Chief Executive Officer John Pettigrew said.

Whilst competitors such as Dominon Energy (NYSE: D) and Exelon Corporation (NASDAQ: EXC) reporting strong quarterly updates, the results will come as a relief for National Grid shareholders.

The board declared an interim dividend of 16.57 pence a share, compared with 16.08 pence the year before.

National Grid said it expects asset growth of around 7% in the near tenrm with annual capital investment of almost £5 billion.

National Grid did report a decline in US revenues however, although the company remained confident of continued outperformance from its UK business.

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