National Grid set for good year

Power grid operator National Grid said it is well placed to deliver another good year after posting a small improvement in underlying profit at the half-year stage.

Underlying profit before tax for the six months ended 30 September rose 2% to £953m from £938m; that was below the £985m the market had been expecting, but that did not stop the share price rising on the figures. The share price rose 0.8% to 631.5p by 08:15.

Reported profit before tax fell from £971m to £941m on a like-for-like basis, while revenue also fell, to £6.31bn from £6.44bn for the same period a year previous.

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Despite this, the board has approved an increase in the interim dividend to 13.93p per ordinary share, in line with its policy of targeting 8% dividend growth until March 2012.

Chief executive Steve Holliday said: "In the UK, we submitted comprehensive business plans for our Transmission businesses to Ofgem, incorporating the output of the significant stakeholder consultation which is critical to securing investment in this essential UK infrastructure. At the same time, we continued to invest in the engineering teams and processes to allow us to deliver the major step up in capital investment over the next few years.

"In the US, we delivered our new operating model on time, significantly reducing headcount and embedding our new regional structure. I am confident that this new structure will improve customer service in our jurisdictions and underpin the continuing drive for efficiency in our US operations and the associated improvement in financial performance.

As a result, notwithstanding the exceptional US weather, we remain well positioned to deliver another good year, although comparative progress will be impacted by the timing differences that benefited 2010/11."

Cash at the end of the period fell from £401m to £240m.

NR