|
National Grid PLC on Thursday lifted its annual dividend as profit and revenue surged, but warned its earnings per share is set to fall next year. For the year ended on March 31, the electricity infrastructure and gas utility company reported revenue of £21.66 billion, up 17% from £18.45 billion the year before. Pretax profit was £3.59 billion, up 4.4% from £3.44 billion, as earnings per share rose 22% to 74.2p from 60.6p the year before. Operating profit was up 12% to £4.88 billion from £4.38 billion. Chief Executive John Pettigrew said: ‘This has been another year of significant progress and strategic change for National Grid with good results demonstrating excellent execution against our key priorities. A record £7.7 billion has been invested in building clean, smart energy infrastructure and maintaining world class reliability across our networks.’ It declared a final dividend of 37.60 pence per share, taking total dividend for financial 2023 to 55.44p per share, up 8.6% from 50.97p a year prior. When it posted its half-year results in November, the company increased its earnings per share growth target to rise in the middle of a new 6% to 8% compound annual growth rate range, up from previous guidance of 5% to 7%. Looking ahead, National Grid said the outlook over the period to financial 2025 remains unchanged. For financial 2024, it said it expects underlying EPS to be modestly below financial 2023 levels, following the UK Government’s change to the capital allowance regime. National Grid said it expects this change to have a 6p to 7p per share impact on EPS. Shares were down 0.9% at 1,130.00 pence on Thursday morning in London. Copyright 2023 Alliance News Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
|
