Incorporation
National Grid Transco plc is incorporated in
England and Wales (No. 4031152) with its
registered office at 1-3 Strand, London WC2N
5EH (telephone +44 (0)20 7004 3000). The
Company was first incorporated on 11 July 2000.
Directors
Details of the Directors serving during the year
and their interests in shares are described under Directors' beneficial interests.
Group activities
An outline of the Group’s businesses, their
activities during the year and possible future
developments are contained in the Chief
Executive’s Review and in
the Directors’ Report and
Operating and Financial Review.
Post balance sheet events
There have been no material post balance sheet
events.
Dividends
An interim dividend of 7.91 pence per share
(US$0.6690 per ADS) was paid on 21 January
2004.
The Directors are recommending a final dividend
of 11.87 pence per share (US$1.0500 per ADS)
be paid on 23 August 2004. The payment of the
final dividend is subject to shareholder approval
at the Annual General Meeting. This would bring
the total dividend for 2003/04 to 19.78 pence
per share (US$1.7190 per ADS).
Research and development
Expenditure on research and development in
2003/04 was £10 million, compared with
£18.2 million in 2002/03 and £16.0 million in
2001/02.
Share buy-back
National Grid Transco has authority from
shareholders to repurchase up to 10% of its
own shares. This authority was not used during
2003/04, nor in the period up to the publication
of this report.
The Board intends to seek shareholder approval
to renew this authority at the Annual General
Meeting.
Companies are now permitted to hold
repurchased shares as treasury shares rather
than cancelling them.
The Board has no current intention to hold
repurchased shares as treasury shares, other
than as required for share schemes.
Political donations
The Group made no political donations in the
UK or EU during the year (including donations as
defined for the purposes of the Political Parties,
Elections and Referendums Act 2000).
National Grid USA’s political action committees,
funded entirely by voluntary employee
contributions, gave US$71,000 (£42,262) to
US state and national political and campaign
committees in 2003/04. As of the date of this
report, our US businesses contibuted a total of
US$50,000 (£29,762) in connection with the
Democratic and Republican national conventions
being held this summer in Massachusetts and
New York. All of these contributions are in
compliance with US state and Federal law.
Charitable donations
During 2003/04 charitable donations of
£1,227,877 were made in the UK (£1,209,500
in 2002/03).
During 2003/04, charitable donations of
approximately US$3,139,000 (£1,868,452) million
were made in the US (approximately
US$3.0 million (£1.9 million) in 2002/03).
Policy on payment of creditors
National Grid Transco is a signatory to the Better
Payment Practice Code, details of which can be
found at www.payontime.co.uk.
The average creditor payment period at
31 March 2004 for the Group’s principal operations in
the UK was 26 days.
Substantial Shareholders
As at 19 May 2004, National Grid Transco had
been notified of the following beneficial interests
in 3% or more of its issued share capital:
| |
% of issued |
| |
share capital |
|
| The Capital Group Companies, Inc. |
10.0 |
| Legal and General Investment Management Ltd |
3.6 |
| Barclays plc |
3.1 |
| Franklin Resources, Inc. |
3.0 |
|
No further notifications have been received.
Employment policy
Information on National Grid Transco’s employee
policies is included under
the heading ‘Our People’.
Employee share ownership
The Group facilitates share ownership amongst
its employees by the operation of both sharesave
and share incentive plans in the UK.
In the US, employees are able to invest in the
Group through employee incentive thrift plans.
Annual General Meeting
National Grid Transco’s Annual General Meeting
will be held on Monday 26 July 2004. Details are
set out in a separate Notice of Annual General
Meeting.
On behalf of the Board
Helen Mahy
Group Company Secretary and General Counsel
19 May 2004
National Grid Transco plc
Registered office:
1-3 Strand, London WC2N 5EH
Registered in England and Wales: No. 4031152
|
