London, May 16, 2026, 14:05 BST
National Grid’s London-listed shares closed the week with a hard break lower, dropping 7.94% on Friday to 1,188p as UK utilities were caught in a broad selloff. The London Stock Exchange is shut for the weekend, so the next real price test comes Monday.
That matters because the move was not just about one set of numbers. Gilt yields — the returns investors demand to hold UK government bonds — jumped as political uncertainty and inflation worries hit UK assets, and Reuters reported that the FTSE 100 fell 1.7% while utilities, often treated as bond proxies, lost 7.5%. A bond proxy is a stock bought partly for steady income, making it vulnerable when bond yields rise.
National Grid had reported full-year results a day earlier. Reuters said adjusted operating profit of £5.68 billion missed a company-compiled consensus of £5.75 billion, with storm-related costs in its U.S. operations rising 7.4% to £636 million, though the company reaffirmed its 2027 adjusted earnings-per-share growth forecast of 13% to 15%.
The week was choppy, then ugly. Historical prices showed National Grid closing at 1,278p on Monday, 1,276p on Wednesday, 1,290.5p on Thursday after results, and 1,188p on Friday, leaving the stock down about 7% from the previous Friday’s close. Friday volume rose to 45.23 million shares, far above the week’s earlier sessions.
Chief Executive Zoë Yujnovich called the new capital plan the “largest investment programme in our history,” as National Grid committed at least £70 billion over five years to expand energy networks in Britain and the U.S. Northeast. The company reported record capital investment of £11.6 billion, underlying EPS of 78p and a full-year dividend of 48.49p. EPS, or earnings per share, is profit measured against each share in issue. National Grid
The bull case still rests on regulated growth. National Grid said the five-year framework targets around 10% annual asset growth and 8% to 10% underlying EPS compound annual growth, meaning average yearly growth over the period, with about two-thirds of planned investment covered by regulatory agreements and roughly three-quarters secured through supply-chain and delivery mechanisms.
Morningstar analyst Tancrede Fulop, CFA, took the constructive side on Friday, maintaining a 1,440p fair value estimate and saying 2027 guidance implied a price-to-earnings ratio of 14, “cheap for a regulatory utility compounder.” Price-to-earnings is a common valuation yardstick comparing a share price with expected profit. Morningstar
Aarin Chiekrie, equity analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, wrote that there were “no surprises” in the results and that higher allowed revenues helped profit growth. He also flagged the catch: the scale of the investment plan brings “plenty of execution risk,” which is likely to keep volatility in the shares. HL
The peer tape was just as poor, which points to a sector repricing rather than a National Grid-only event. SSE fell 7.65% to 2,271p, while United Utilities dropped 7.45% to 1,280p, both underperforming the wider FTSE 100 on Friday.
Before Monday’s open, traders will watch gilt yields, sterling, Brent crude and UK political headlines first. They will also watch regulation: in a company transcript, Yujnovich said National Grid expected the government to release sector-specific methodology around ED3 on May 21, referring to the next electricity distribution price-control framework.
But the risk is that higher borrowing costs do not fade. National Grid had net debt of £44.2 billion at March 31, and a capital-heavy utility can be marked down quickly if investors demand higher income yields, storm costs recur, or regulators take a tougher line on returns. A worse downside case is a second leg lower in UK bonds and another selloff in utilities before buyers reassess the dividend and growth story.
For Monday, the near-term forecast is defensive, not broken. A calmer gilt market could let National Grid try to recover toward Friday’s 1,280p open and Thursday’s 1,290.5p close; a fresh rise in yields would leave the 1,188p close exposed and keep pressure on the FTSE 100 after its finish at 10,195.37.
