National Grid Has Avoided Material Virus Hit to Date But Expects Capital Program Delays

By Jaime Llinares Taboada

National Grid PLC said Thursday that it has not had any material hit from the coronavirus pandemic to date, although its capital program has had some delays and disruption.

The power company said it has suspended debt collection and customer terminations in the U.S., causing lower turnover and increasing the risk of bad debt.

For the year ended March 31, the U.K. group expects underlying performance before any coronavirus impacts to be in line with guidance.

National Grid will take into account "expected business performance and regulatory developments, including an assessment of the impact of the coronavirus" for determining the final dividend for the fiscal year, it said.

National Grid was expected to report earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization of 5.36 billion pounds ($6.64 billion) for fiscal 2020--taken from FactSet and based on three analysts' forecasts--which would be up from GBP5.16 billion a year earlier.

Write to Jaime Llinares Taboada at jaime.llinares@wsj.com; @JaimeLlinaresT

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

April 02, 2020 02:34 ET (06:34 GMT)

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