National Grid (NG.) is one of those curious hybrid companies that pretends to be a private entity but is in fact a government-backed monopoly that pays out decent dividends. Therefore, it is slightly disconcerting for investors to see a plan for massive infrastructure spending being pitched as a way of returning to earnings growth.
Under normal circumstances, that would make the market wary, but the reality is that given the poor state of electricity infrastructure in the UK and US, spending £70bn fixing the problem over the next five years is the minimum response needed to keep the lights on. The ramp-up in spending was evident in these results, with capital investment leaping by 18 per cent to £11.6bn.
