U.K. Utilities Jump as Nationalization Threat Ends With Election
U.K. Utilities Jump as Nationalization Threat Ends With Election
(Bloomberg) -- Shares in U.K. utilities soared on Friday morning as the Labour Party and its leader Jeremy Corbyn’s resounding loss in Thursday’s election effectively ended the possibility of a broad nationalization of the sector.
Corbyn announced he will stand down before the next election, weakening the far-left tilt of the nation’s main opposition party. The victory for Prime Minister Boris Johnson also added potentially good news for the sector in the promise of lower taxes and policies to shift the country toward net-zero greenhouse gas emissions that will include a massive push toward more renewable energy.
“The risk of nationalization has been taken off the table for good,” analysts at Sanford C Bernstein Co. said in a note to clients. “We see this as very positive for the U.K. regulated utilities.”
Centrica Plc shares gained as much as 18%, the most since 2006. National Grid Plc rose as much as 8.1%, the most in a decade and SSE Plc was up as much as 10%.
To contact the reporter on this story: William Mathis in London at wmathis2@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Reed Landberg at landberg@bloomberg.net, Lars Paulsson
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