Hurricanes hit Grid’s profits

POWER supplier National Grid took a hit from the cost of cleaning up after US storms, as profits fell 6pc to £2.6bn.

In September its staff faced 7.8m power cuts caused by Hurricane Irma in Florida and Georgia, and October storms affected 532,000 people.

The FTSE 100 firm, which in 2016 sold its UK gas business, said it had invested £4.3bn last year, which was 14pc higher than previous year. Profits in its UK electricity transmission business fell 24pc to £1bn. It is rewiring chunks of London, which has already helped it save about £80m, it claimed.

National Grid is recommending a rise in the final dividend to 30.44p per share, bringing the full-year dividend to 45.93p, up 3.75pc on last year.