FTSE 100 shares round-up: National Grid, JD Sports, BP, 3i Group

National Grid (LSE:NG.) investors who backed the FTSE 100 stalwart’s £6.8 billion rights issue are sitting comfortably after a results-day boost lifted shares more than 60% above the offer price.

The latest rise for the electricity transmission business came after it recorded earnings per share of 73.3p for 2024/25, about 1p higher than the average forecast of 12 City analysts.

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Even though the rights issue increased the number of shares in circulation, the headline earnings figure still rose 2% on a year earlier as National Grid benefited from a stronger performance in its regulated businesses, particularly New York.

Shareholders can expect to receive a final dividend of 30.88p on 17 July, resulting in a 3.2% increase on last year’s rebased payout to a total of 46.72p.

The company remains a popular stock with income investors, given that the dividend is protected in real terms through benchmarking against the increase in average annual CPI inflation plus housing costs.

National Grid has £18 billion of distributable reserves, which it pointed out today is sufficient to cover more than five years of forecast group dividends.

Last summer’s rights issue saw shareholders offered the chance to buy seven new shares at a discounted price of 645p for every 24 already held.

The company tapped investors as part of its pledge to deliver £60 billion of investment in energy network infrastructure in the UK and US between 2024 and 2029. That’s nearly double the amount of the previous five-year period.

Using today’s 73.3p figure as a baseline, National Grid said it expects compound growth in underlying EPS to be in the 6–8% range for the duration of its five-year framework.

John Pettigrew, who is stepping down as chief executive later this year, said: “At a time of international economic uncertainty, National Grid continues to provide stable and predictable growth through our resilient business model.”

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National Grid was joined at the top of the FTSE 100 by JD Sports Fashion (LSE:JD.), which extended its rebound of the past month to 25% as investors reacted to confirmation that Dick's Sporting Goods is to buy smaller rival Foot Locker for $2.4 billion.

Peel Hunt said the deal presented a significant opportunity for peers such as JD Sports to win market share while Foot Locker undergoes a likely strategic overhaul.

Shares rose 3.3p to 93.3p in today’s session, compared with the broker’s price target of 200p.

It said: “JD Sports has a clear US growth plan and we believe its arrival there is among the reasons Foot Locker has struggled. New ownership may not change that for a while: potential medium-term merger complications offer JD Sports further market share opportunities.”

On the fallers board, BP (LSE:BP.) shares declined 11.05p to 370p after Brent Crude dipped below $64 a barrel to add to the impact of shares being marked ex-dividend.

The lower oil price, which followed speculation of a US-Iran nuclear deal, is likely to put more pressure on BP’s scope for debt reduction and share buybacks.

Shell (LSE:SHEL), which is seen as a potential bidder for BP having outperformed its peers in terms of shareholder distributions since 2023, fell 46.5p to 2468p.

Private equity group 3i Group Ord (LSE:III) also struggled near the bottom of the FTSE 100 index after today’s 22% rise in its net asset value figure to 2,542p a share came up short of some City hopes.

The shares fell 118p to 4,079p, despite an otherwise strong full-year performance after the company’s long-term top performing investment of European discount chain Action drove a return of £5 billion or 25% on opening funds.

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The success of Action since 3i’s initial 130 million euros investment in 2011 continued in 2024/25, leading to a valuation of £17.8 billion at the end of March. As well as growth of £4.3 billion, the chain delivered dividend distributions to 3i of £1.6 billion.

At the end of last week, Action’s year-to-date like-for-like sales growth stood at 6.8% while 76 new stores had been added. This compared with the sales growth of 6.1% recorded in March, when one-off store availability issues caused by a change to a new software system fuelled jitters over 3i’s lofty premium and reliance on one company.

Tariffs uncertainty meant the shares fell as far as 3,367p by 7 April before a rebound to 4,298p earlier this month. A second full-year dividend of 42.5p is due to be paid on 25 July, representing growth of almost 20% for 2024/25.

Chief executive Simon Borrows said: “We remain confident in our ability to compound growth across the portfolio in the years to come.