National Grid H1 Trading In Line With Expectations

(RTTNews) - National Grid plc (NGG, NG.L, NNGF.DE), a London-based electricity and gas distributor, on Thursday issued a pre-close update for the first half, stating that the group's performance is in line with its expectations.

In addition, the firm expects its usual pattern of the underlying earnings per share to be weighted to the second half of the year.

The firm also expects the operating profit to be broadly consistent with previous periods.

Under UK Electricity Transmission and UK Electricity Distribution, National Grid expects operating profit to be broadly evenly split across the year.

In US-regulated businesses, the firm expects operating profit to be weighted towards the second half.

Also, due to fewer storms in New York and new electricity distribution rates in New England, both businesses are projected to contribute slightly more to first-half profits compared to last year.

In addition, the firm expects an even weighting of profit across the year from National Grid Ventures.

The half-year results will be announced on November 6.

On the London Stock Exchange, the shares were trading 0.84% lower at 1066 pence.