LONDON (dpa-AFX) - National Grid plc (NGG, NG.L, NNGF.DE), a British electricity and gas distributor, on Thursday reported significantly higher pre-tax profit in its first half, driven by one-time gains and higher revenues.
Further, the firm upgraded fiscal 2027 underlying earnings per share growth outlook and maintained plans to invest at least £70 billion in the UK and US over the next five years.
Looking ahead for 2026/27, the company expects to deploy around £13.5 billion of capital investment. With continued strong operational performance across the Group, underlying earnings per share is now expected to increase 15 -16 percent from the 2025/26 baseline of 78.0p.
In early October, the company had said that it expects underlying earnings per share to be slightly above previous growth guidance of 13-15% for the year.
For the five-year period from 2026/27 to 2030/31, the company continues to project total cumulative capital investment of at least £70 billion across energy networks and adjacent businesses, in the UK and US. The company sees Group assets trending towards £115 billion by March 2031.
National Grid also expects Group asset growth CAGR of around 10 percent; and driving underlying earnings per share CAGR of 8-10 percent from the 2025/26 EPS baseline.
In the first half, profit before tax was £1.730 billion, up 109 percent from last year's £826 million. Earnings per share surged 113 percent to 26.8 pence from 12.5 pence a year ago.
The improvement reflected favourable timing swings and benefits from exceptional items including NGP portfolio revaluation gains and the non-recurring impact of divestments.
Underlying profit before tax was £1.958 billion, compared to £1.653 billion last year. Underlying earnings per share were 36.5 pence, compared to 29.8 pence a year ago.
Total underlying operating profit was £2.591 billion, up 13 percent from £2.299 billion last year.
Revenue for the first half grew to £8.138 billion from £7.065 billion a year earlier. Underlying revenues were £7.996 billion for the period.
Further, the company announced an interim dividend of 16.97 pence per share, 4 percent higher than last year's 16.35 pence per share.
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