Put all of National Grid under state control, net zero campaigners urge

[Mr Gus]

https://www.theguardian.com/business/20 ... gners-urge

Investors paid almost £9bn in dividends and share buyback schemes over last five years, report has revealed

Snippet
"The stock-market-listed firm, which counts the fund managers BlackRock, Vanguard and the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority among its top five shareholders, has a 19% operating margin on its electricity business, allowing the board to fund an average £1bn a year in dividends"

[spread-tee]

Yep, the whole system is a racket designed to make rich people even richer.

Desp

[John_S]

If one bothers to read the financial reports of National Grid, one easily sees that the capital investment in the UK transmission networks and the ESO, is significantly more than the profits of those networks.

Also, the dividends are issued with a scrip alternative with at least half, on average, being taken as scrip where the shareholders get extra shares instead of cash.

I always wonder if investment in improving transmission networks could be faster if our national and local government planning systems were less restrictive.

[nowty]

5% annual return on a near 38 billion market cap, a fairly standard return for an infrastructure company.
After average inflation, hardly any return at all.

I don't hold any stock directly but I do via one or two investment trusts.

[spread-tee]

If one bothers to read the financial reports of National Grid, one easily sees that the capital investment in the UK transmission networks and the ESO, is significantly more than the profits of those networks.

Also, the dividends are issued with a scrip alternative with at least half, on average, being taken as scrip where the shareholders get extra shares instead of cash.

I always wonder if investment in improving transmission networks could be faster if our national and local government planning systems were less restrictive.

One would hope so, if the profit were more than the investment we would really be in trouble wouldn't we? Payment in kind is pretty tax effective, so that's OK

Desp