National Grid's rock-solid yield

National Grid performed well in the first year of a new price-control regime that determines what it can charge for the use of its transmission and distribution networks. The group was able to find extra efficiencies over and above those assumed in the prices set by regulator Ofgem. The UK-regulated business consequently outperformed Ofgem's assumed return on equity by 260 basis points.

Group adjusted post-tax profit rose 5 per cent year on year to £2bn - giving a pre-tax margin of around 14 per cent. That's far higher than the much disputed 4 per cent post-tax margin that Centrica's British Gas expects to deliver this year. But management insisted any claims that the grid's regulatory review was not tough enough are wide of the mark. "Ofgem is no soft touch," group finance director Andrew Bonfield told us. "It was a challenging review."

The US business, meanwhile, is not beating its regulatory targets quite as easily. It achieved a return on equity of 9 per cent, which fell short of the 9.8 per cent return allowed by the US regulator. National Grid entered the US in 2000 and the division now makes up just under a third of group operating profits. Management says the business is not firing on all cylinders; they will keep the pressure on the US team to achieve better returns.

City consensus is for group adjusted earnings per share to creep up to 55p this year (from 54p in 2013-14) and for the dividend to rise 3 per cent to 43.4p.