Here it is, your all new National Grid thread. The chart features Bollinger Bands, MACD, 50 and 200 day SMAs.

Web Site Link:

http://www.nationalgrid.com/uk


Here's the link to the old NG. thread

Berenberg today downgrades its investment rating on National Grid PLC (LON:NG.) to hold (from buy) and left its price target at 1050p.

"● Investment case played out: When we upgraded National Grid to Buy in January, the investment case was very simple: in our opinion, the share price did not reflect the value of the forthcoming 84.375p special dividend (ex-div 22 May). That has now played out and the shares are trading close to our unchanged 1,050p price target. Consequently, we are downgrading our rating to Hold.
● Temporary timing factors behind upgrade to near-term forecasts: There can be a mismatch between allowed and recovered revenue. A catch-up is sometimes required. National Grid has announced that timing factors in the UK (UKET) and the US add roughly 7p (previously 2p) to 2016/17E EPS. This represents the lion’s share of our estimate changes. The catch-up effects are, of course, only temporary. Eventually, revenues will normalise.
● Longer-term forecasts little changed: Nevertheless, we make some subtle changes to the mix, with lower growth expectations for UK Electricity Transmission (less growth in the regulatory asset base (RAB)), offset by a higher expected contribution from non-regulated activities (interconnectors) and lower financial expenses. We also make a few tweaks to FX and tax.
● UK general election and risks: UK residential energy bills are once again under fire in the pre-election campaigns. This is more of an issue for supply companies like Centrica, SSE, E.ON, EDF, Iberdrola and innogy than National Grid. That said, National Grid’s growth prospects could be hampered if government intervention prolongs the investment hiatus in new capacity.
● Special dividend: The group plans to return the vast majority of proceeds from its recent Gas Distribution disposal to shareholders via an 84.375p (ú3bn) special dividend and a ú1bn share buyback. The dividend will be accompanied by an EPS-smoothing 11-for-12 share consolidation. The shares will go ex-special-dividend on 22 May 2017 with payment due on 2 June 2017. Given the magnitude of the distribution, the share price could suffer once the shares are ex-dividend.
● Otherwise little else has changed: We see National Grid’s refocused portfolio of regulated businesses delivering a c7% CAGR in regulated asset value 2016/17E to 2019/20E. This supports its RPI-linked dividend growth target (which looks achievable), aided by a steady recovery in US returns thanks to ongoing rate filings. National Grid is a net beneficiary of sterling weakness against the dollar (its US profits modestly outweigh its US debt exposure)."

Barclays Capital today reaffirms its equal weight investment rating on National Grid PLC (LON:NG.) and set its price target at 1075p.

Results for the year ended 31 MARCH 2017

Operational Highlights
· Strong performance and significant strategic progress
· UK regulated efficiency and innovation generated customer savings of £460m over 4 years
· Sale of 61% of UK Gas Distribution business complete, announced £4bn return to shareholders
· Rates updated for downstate New York gas and Massachusetts Electric businesses
· RIIO mid-period regulatory review completed
· Further clarity on the UK System Operator role

Financial Highlights
· Total adjusted1 EPS of 73.0p
· Total adjusted EPS excluding timing of 66.1p, up 6%
· Total Group Return on Equity of 11.7% (2016: 12.3%)
· Significant total capital investment of £4.5bn, up 5% at constant currency
· Recommended full year dividend of 44.27p
· Strong balance sheet maintained

more.....

JP Morgan Cazenove Overweight 1,040.25 1,100.00 1,100.00 Reiterates

Deutsche Bank Hold 1,040.25 920.00 920.00 Retains

Barclays Capital Equal weight 1,040.25 1,075.00 1,075.00 Reiterates

StockMarketWire.com
National Grid said as a result of a share consolidation effective today its issued capital comprised 3.61bn ordinary shares, of which 173,239,075 were held as treasury shares and the remaining 3.44bn had voting rights.

HSBC today upgrades its investment rating on National Grid PLC (LON:NG.) to buy (from hold) and raised its price target to 1060p (from 1050p).

Berenberg Hold 947.30 1,050.00 1,050.00 Reiterates

UK energy regulator lowers bills for vulnerable homes

Trial to phase in hydrogen as fuel to begin in north-west

Credit Suisse today reaffirms its underperform investment rating on National Grid PLC (LON:NG.) and raised its price target to 860p (from 850p).

StockMarketWire.com
National Grid's adjusted profit before tax fell by 22% at actual exchange rates to £807 million in the six months to 30 September.

Excluding the impact of timing, adjusted profit before tax was up 1% to £916 million.

Operating and finance costs both increased over the year.

Adjusted operating profit fell from £1.4 billion to £1.3 billion, but excluding the impact of timing it rose by 4% to £1.37 billion.

UK Electricity Transmission adjusted operating profit excluding timing fell by 11%, but UK Gas Transmission, US Regulated and NG Ventures and other activities all registered gains of 25%, 19% and 4% respectively.

Capital investment increased by 7% to £2 billion in the first half.

Overall group performance is anticipated to remain in line with the expectations set out at the full year results announcement in May 2017.

John Pettigrew, chief executive, said: "We have delivered a solid financial performance in line with our expectations, made further progress to evolve our business and maintained a world class, safe and reliable service. Our focus on efficiency and innovation has reduced costs and generated increased savings for bill payers.

"We also invested a further £2bn in critical infrastructure during the period. Our improved performance in the US is encouraging, with this part of the business now representing an increasingly important part of our investment proposition. Having reshaped our portfolio in the UK, we continue to expect our electricity and gas transmission businesses to deliver high levels of performance.

"Our outlook for the year is unchanged, underpinned by our expectations for a stronger second half. We are focused on completing rate filings in the US, continuing proactive discussions with Ofgem ahead of the next regulatory settlement in 2021 and seeking new opportunities to grow the business and optimise our performance. We are confident that our strategy continues to create value for shareholders, delivering an attractive yield, and asset growth in the 5% to 7% range."

Jefferies comment:
Headline results. Reported EBIT was £1.26bn (3% below consensus). The miss appears to be in the UK electricity and gas transmission businesses (6% and 13% below consensus respectively), seemingly driven by lower base allowances and higher controllable costs. Reported EPS was 18.5p (including adverse timing effect of 1.9p), which was 5% below consensus. In addition to the miss at the EPS level, contributions from JVs also came in lower than expected (£75m vs. consensus of £109m).

Continued growth in US Regulated business. NG reported 6M EBIT of £433m in its US regulated business. The company is in ongoing discussions with the US regulator over the Niagara Mohawk rate case, and is confident of reaching a reasonable settlement soon, with new rates coming into effect by April 2018. In addition, NG is due to submit rate files for its Massachusetts Gas and Rhode Island Electric and Gas utilities later this month. New rates for Rhode Island Electric and Gas would be expected to come into effect by September 2018, and for Massachusetts Gas by October 2018. With these measures, in the US, NG aims to achieve 90% of the average allowed returns in 2017/18.

Capex remains on track for FY guidance. 6M group capex was £2bn, up 4% at constant currency. Of this, over half (£1.1bn) was invested into the US regulated business, and £672m into its UK electricity and gas transmission businesses. We highlight that NG remains on track to achieve its 2017/18 capex guidance of over £4bn (equally split between UK and US).

Dividend growth continues. The company also announced an interim dividend of 15.49p/share, which represents a 2.1% increase above last year's interim dividend.

FY guidance re-iterated. NG confirmed that it remains confident on delivering FY17/18 guidance. However, it highlighted that it expects financial performance to be significantly weighted to the second half, due to the seasonality of US regulated profits. Over the medium term, NG aims to grow its asset base 5-7%."

Credit Suisse today upgrades its investment rating on National Grid PLC (LON:NG.) to neutral (from underperform) and left its price target at 860p

JP Morgan Cazenove today reaffirms its overweight investment rating on National Grid PLC (LON:NG.) and cut its price target to 1040p (from 1060p).

Morgan Stanley today reaffirms its overweight investment rating on National Grid PLC (LON:NG.) and set its price target at 1100p.

StockMarketWire.com
National Grid said it was "very disappointed" by the UK energy regulator Ofgem's costing and pricing model for the Hinkley-Seabank transmission project.

The project is intended to allow for the safe connection of the planned Hinkley Point C nuclear power station to the grid.

"National Grid is very disappointed with the proxy competition proposal, which includes financial parameters proposed for the delivery of this complex and major infrastructure project," the company said.

"We have prepared for a number of financial scenarios, however we do not believe that the proposed ranges for cost-of-debt and cost-of-equity included in the consultation reflect either the actual cost of financing this project or the risk being taken for construction of this complex project."

"We also believe that Ofgem has significantly overestimated the potential consumer savings in their consultation."

National Grid said it intended to work constructively with Ofgem in the coming weeks and would submit its views to progress towards achieving "a fair and timely outcome for customers and investors".

However, the company said it would consider "all other options available to us if we are not able to progress this satisfactorily".

The HSB project was expected to have a total cost of around £650m, with the majority forecast spend by National Grid Electricity Transmission plc in the RIIO-T2 price control period from April 2021 onwards.

National Grid plc provides update on impact of US Tax Reform


National Grid provides an update on the expected impact of the US Tax Cuts and Jobs Act on the Group.

Overall, the US tax reform changes are significantly positive for our US customers and economically neutral for National Grid.

National Grid anticipates that there will be a non-cash tax credit of around $2 billion due to the revaluation of certain deferred tax balances. This credit will be reflected as an exceptional item and is expected to be returned to customers over a period of 20 to 30 years. There will be no other material impact on the results for the financial year ending 31 March 2018.

The full implications of the new legislation on earnings and cash flows are still being reviewed, and will depend on the outcome of discussions with regulators for each of our 14 regulated entities in the US. To date, this has been reflected in our Joint Proposal for Niagara Mohawk Electric and Gas, and our ongoing Massachusetts Gas and Rhode Island rate filings, which together represented 48% of the US rate base at 31 March 2017. The total annualised revenue increase for these companies is estimated to reduce by $130 million and will come into effect as these changes are adopted in new rates in FY19. The reduction in revenue will be offset by a corresponding reduction in the tax charge.

National Grid does not expect a material impact on the year ending 31 March 2019, but we expect to provide more detailed guidance at the full year results.

J. Murphy & Sons buys Carillion's UK power business

"It will take over Carillion’s position on National Grid’s (NG.L) overhead electricity lines, substation and underground cable framework contracts and Carillion employees will join Murphy, the company said."

Ofgem's RIIO-2 Framework Consultation

Ofgem today published their RIIO-2 Framework consultation document, in which they set out their proposed approach to the next gas and electricity transmission price control (RIIO-T2).

We note the wide range of options the consultation document contains and acknowledge the focus on long-term thinking for critical infrastructure, incentive outperformance opportunities for well-run companies and the continuing alignment of consumer and shareholder interests under the RIIO framework.

The RIIO-2 framework consultation document is another important step in the process leading to a new price control in April 2021. We will continue to work constructively with Ofgem over the next three years to achieve the best outcomes for all stakeholders. We will keep the market updated as the process moves forward.

National Grid Pre-Close Update to 2017/18 Technical Guidance
National Grid updates its 2017/18 technical guidance ahead of entering close period on 17 April 2018.

Underlying Group EBIT is expected to be in line with original guidance. Headline Group EBIT is expected to be lower due to the impact of major storms in on our US businesses. This is largely offset at the earnings level by benefits to finance costs and a lower effective tax rate.

US Storms
Our US businesses incurred major storm remediation costs of approximately £140 million, approximately 3p on Earnings Per Share (EPS). These costs are expected to be recovered in future periods and will be reported as timing in our full-year results in May.

Financing and tax
Finance costs are expected to benefit from gains of approximately £60m or 1.5p at the EPS level relating to the realisation of gains on investments in our insurance captive. The Group's tax charge is now expected to be approximately 24% (down from the previous expectation of around 27%), in part due to changes in profit mix and the lower US corporate tax rate following changes to US tax law.

Other timing impacts
Headline full-year results are expected to include US in-year timing over recoveries (before major storm costs) of approximately £135 million. This is expected to be partially offset by a UK in-year under recovery of approximately £30m. The net benefit to headline Group EPS attributable to timing is estimated to be 2p.

National Grid will publish its preliminary results for 2017/18 on Thursday 17 May 2018.