National Grid (LSE: NG) shares climbed 2.7% on Thursday after the company raised its full-year earnings guidance, on the back of a recent accounting change.
The FTSE 100 utility firm said the revised reporting method, to be implemented in its 2024 financial results, will boost underlying earnings per share (EPS) by an estimated 8 pence per share.
Consequently, National Grid now expects underlying EPS for the financial year ending March 31, 2024 to be in line with the previous year’s figure. The company reported an underlying EPS of 69.7 pence for financial 2023.
The accounting change aligns National Grid’s reporting practices with its UK peers and reflects the UK government’s introduction of full expensing tax relief for qualifying capital expenditure, introduced in the 2023 budget and made permanent in November 2023. This tax benefit will be excluded from the company’s underlying EPS going forward.
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