Proactive Investors - National Grid PLC (LON:NG) gained over 2% on Thursday morning after hiking underlying earnings per share guidance.
Earnings per share should sit in line with last year’s figure of 69.7p, the grid operator said, rather than “modestly below”, as previously guided.
This comes due to an accounting change after tax reliefs were offered to firms in this year’s Spring Budget.
So-called 'full expensing' allows companies to claim up to 100% of tax back on the likes of plant and machinery investments.
“To represent underlying profitability more accurately, and to align with UK peers, we will now report underlying earnings and underlying EPS excluding the impact of deferred tax,” National Grid explained.
The move will prompt an “expected” 8p per share boost to full-year underlying earnings, bringing the figure in line with last year, with this up 7% on 2022.
Shares climbed 2.5% to 1,038p on the news.