Coronavirus: National Grid suffers ‘delays and disruptions’ to capital programme
Shares in National Grid are down almost five per cent this morning, after it said it was experiencing delays and disruption to its capital works programme.
The FTSE 100 company said today that it expected its 2019-20 results to be in line with pre-Covid-19 expectations and that the virus would not have a “material impact” on results.
However, the company has also seen delays to its capital works programme and has “suspended debt collection and customer termination activities “, which could lead to an increase in bad debt.
In a statement, the company said: “In progressing our capital programme, working closely with our regulators and other relevant authorities in each of our jurisdictions, we will prioritise the health and safety of our employees, customers and communities.”
The utility company added that it had not made a decision on whether to issue a final dividiend for 2019-20.
Shares in National Grid are down 4.5 per cent to 870.60p as of 11.30am.
This is despite the FTSE 100 seeing small gains this morning.
“Our teams have swiftly and successfully implemented our business continuity plans, which are working well across our businesses,” a National Grid spokesperson said.
“This is enabling us to assess impacts on our capital delivery programmes day by day to maintain safe working environments for our teams.
“We continue to work closely with regulators and governments across our operations to ensure our customers and communities have access to the energy they need through this time.”