London, May 18, 2026, 10:05 BST
National Grid rose in early London trading on Monday, recovering part of Friday’s sharp fall as investors shifted back into defensive utilities and weighed a profit miss against the company’s large regulated investment plan.
Delayed quote data showed the FTSE 100 utility at 1,210p at 09:46:57 BST, up 22p, or 1.85%, after a Friday close of 1,188p. The stock had ended Thursday at 1,290.5p, leaving Monday’s bounce well short of reversing the post-results slide. The FTSE 100 was quoted at 10,210.39, up 15.02 points. Shareprices
The move matters now because the market is deciding whether last week’s sell-off was a reset in a crowded defensive trade or a warning about the cost of running regulated networks in harsher weather. National Grid was listed among Monday’s FTSE 100 winners, with utilities higher in cautious trade, Alliance News reported. Shareprices
National Grid missed annual profit expectations on Thursday, with adjusted operating profit of £5.68 billion for the year to March 31 versus a company-compiled consensus of £5.75 billion. Reuters reported that storm-related costs rose 7.4% to £636 million, while CEO Zoë Yujnovich said supply-chain disruption from Middle East tensions was not expected to be major and U.S. tariff impact was limited because about 90% of U.S. procurement is local. Reuters
The company is asking investors to look past the miss and focus on the next build-out. In its results statement, Yujnovich called the planned spending the “largest investment programme in our history,” with at least £70 billion over five years, record 2025/26 capital investment of £11.6 billion and a full-year dividend of 48.49p, up 3.8%. EPS, or earnings per share — profit attributable to each share — was 78.0p on an underlying basis, a company measure that strips out some regulatory timing and other items. Investegate
National Grid also forecast 2026/27 underlying EPS growth of 13% to 15% from that baseline. The driver is RIIO-T3, Ofgem’s UK electricity transmission price control through March 2031, which sets allowed revenues and returns for regulated network investment.
Broker reaction has not been one-way bearish. Barclays raised its price target on National Grid to 1,500p from 1,400p and kept an “overweight” rating, meaning it expects the shares to outperform a relevant benchmark or sector. Shareprices
Friday’s damage was not isolated to National Grid. SSE fell 7.65% and United Utilities dropped 7.45% in the same weak session, with both moves coming as the FTSE 100 lost 1.71%, showing the utility trade was being marked down more broadly. MarketWatch
Markets were already fragile. “There’s a downbeat feel around at the end of the week as big problems crowd in, without resolutions in sight,” Susannah Streeter, chief investment strategist at Wealth Club, said in a Friday market note carried by Alliance News; she tied the pressure to Middle East uncertainty and UK political risk. Shareprices
The risk is that Monday’s rise becomes only a pause. More U.S. storms could lift repair costs, higher bond yields could make National Grid’s investment plan more expensive, and delays in UK planning or U.S. rate cases could slow the earnings lift from regulated spending. For a utility, “regulated” means a watchdog sets how much revenue and return a company can earn, so politics and consumer bills sit close to the equity story.
For the week ahead, traders will test whether the shares can hold above 1,200p. A move back toward Thursday’s close would suggest the results scare has faded; failure to hold Monday’s bounce would keep the storm-cost miss, not the £70 billion investment pitch, in control of the price.
