LONDON, April 25, 2026, 19:03 BST
National Grid plc shares rose for a second straight session on Friday, closing up 0.61% at 1,295p, as investors moved back into the UK-listed utility before a May results update that will test its long investment story. The stock also gained 0.97% on Thursday, market data showed.
The timing matters because National Grid has already flagged one near-term hit. In a U.S. filing this month, the company said performance for the year ended March 31 was in line with expectations, but it estimated a roughly 1p-per-share impact on underlying earnings per share from customer refund charges linked to a March 19 FERC judgment on New England Transmission and higher-than-expected U.S. storm costs. Full-year results are due May 14.
Underlying EPS, or adjusted earnings per share, is the profit measure investors use to strip out some one-off items and compare operating performance. FERC is the U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, the agency that oversees parts of the interstate power market. For National Grid, both matter because the company earns much of its money from regulated networks where allowed returns, costs and refunds can move profit.
The latest share move was not a clean sweep for UK utilities. SSE fell 1.0% on Friday, while Severn Trent rose just 0.13%, suggesting investors were sorting between regulated infrastructure names rather than buying the whole defensive sector without distinction.
National Grid is a UK-based energy company whose main activities include electricity transmission and distribution in Great Britain, plus electricity and gas networks in the northeastern United States. Its operating areas include UK Electricity Transmission, UK Electricity Distribution, New England, New York and National Grid Ventures.
The bigger question is the group’s spending plan. Chief Executive Zoë Yujnovich said in March that “modern, resilient networks” were fundamental to growth, as the company laid out at least £70 billion of capital investment through fiscal 2031 and said it expected underlying EPS growth of 13% to 15% for fiscal 2027. FCA Data
The UK rulebook behind part of that plan is RIIO-3, Ofgem’s five-year price-control regime running from April 1, 2026, to March 31, 2031. Ofgem says RIIO — revenues, incentives, innovation and outputs — is the framework used to ensure monopoly gas and electricity network companies have enough revenue to invest, run their systems and deliver what customers value.
Analysts remain split on how much of that growth is already priced in. JPMorgan analyst Pavan Mahbubani raised his National Grid target to 1,450p from 1,250p and kept an overweight rating on April 1, while Morgan Stanley’s Sarah Lester cut her target to 1,480p from 1,525p on April 15 but kept an overweight view, an analyst tracker showed.
In the U.S., the company’s ADR also drew fresh technical attention. Investor’s Business Daily said Friday that National Grid’s Relative Strength Rating, a measure of share-price performance against other stocks over the past year, rose to 76 from 70; the publication said many leading stocks tend to clear 80 before major runs.
But the downside case is straightforward. More regulatory rulings, storm damage, delayed grid connections, higher funding costs or weaker cost control could chip away at the earnings lift investors expect from the spending programme. National Grid’s own cautionary statement said future results could differ because of factors including price controls, U.S. rate cases, adverse weather, infrastructure damage, IT failures and funding costs.
For now, the market has marked the shares higher, but not wildly so. The next hard numbers arrive on May 14, when investors will look past the 1p earnings drag and ask whether National Grid can keep building faster without giving too much of the return back to regulators, customers or storms.
