BUSINESS LIVE: National Grid to raise £7bn; Hargreaves Lansdown rejects takeover bid; Nationwide hands members £385 million

Nationwide Building Society has announced that it will be paying out a ‘Fairer Share’ bonus again this year.

Members will receive payment directly into their checking account in June.

It comes as the mutual giant said pre-tax profits in the year to April were £1.77 billion, compared with £2.2 billion last year.

Britain’s largest investment platform has become the latest London-listed company to be targeted by foreign bidders.

After the market closed last night, Hargreaves Lansdown said it had received two approaches from a consortium of buyers regarding a potential takeover.

The latest offer – worth 985p per share or £4.67 billion – was unanimously rejected by the board ‘as it significantly undervalues ​​Hargreaves Lansdown and its future prospects’.

National Grid hopes to raise £7 billion to invest in energy network infrastructure, through a fully underwritten rights issue of 1.09 billion new shares.

The capital increase will take place through a fully underwritten rights issue of 645p per share based on seven new shares for every 24 existing shares, the company said.

The rights issue will help fund National Grid’s significant capital investment of around £60 billion in energy network infrastructure.

Boss John Pettigrew said the move reflects the company ‘strengthening our position as the leader in the energy transition in the North East of Britain and the US’.

He added: “On both sides of the Atlantic, governments and regulators are working with increasing urgency to attract the levels of investment needed to achieve their decarbonization targets.

‘As economies become increasingly digital, electrified and decarbonised, the need for energy infrastructure has rarely been more urgent. Our investment will enable significant economic growth and by the end of the decade, National Grid is expected to support over 60,000 additional jobs, while also decarbonising our energy systems, strengthening security of supply and reducing consumer bills in the long term will decrease.

‘Our strong track record in infrastructure delivery, positive engagement with our regulators and wider stakeholders, alongside clarity on the scale and profile of our capital investment positions in National Grid to take advantage of the significant growth opportunities we have in the future to see.’