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The impact of Hurricane Irene cost National Grid £69m, the company said this morning. National Grid, which has major operations in Solihull and Warwick, said pre-tax profit for the last six months slipped 3 per cent to £941m.

In its half-year results released this morning (17 November), the power giant said statutory pre-tax profit fell £30m from £971m in the comparable 2010 period.

Revenue stood at £6.3bn, down from £6.4bn in the previous year.

National Grid's transmissions and LNG storage businesses are headquartered in Warwick, while its OnStream metering business is based in Solihull. The UK gas distribution subsidiary is in Northampton.

In October this year, the company announced it would sell its OnStream subsidiary to Macquarie Bank for £274m. The company said it was part of its strategy to streamline the business through small divestments.

In the same month, the company completed the sale of its US-based Seneca Upshur exploration and production business for $153m. National Grid has also agreed the sale of its Granite State Electric and EnergyNorth businesses in New Hampshire, US, for $285m.

The company's US divisions were shaken by Hurricane Irene, which racked up estimated costs of £69m.

The natural disaster struck the North East US on Sunday 28 August 2011, affecting power supplies to more than 1 million National Grid customers.

National Grid said: "The impact of Hurricane Irene, flooding and tornadoes in Massachusetts combined to make it an exceptional summer for weather in our US operating territory. In the immediate aftermath of Hurricane Irene, more than 30 per cent of our US electricity customers were without power."

Chief executive Steve Holliday said: "In the UK, we submitted comprehensive business plans for our Transmission businesses to Ofgem, incorporating the output of the significant stakeholder consultation which is critical to securing investment in this essential UK infrastructure. At the same time, we continued to invest in the engineering teams and processes to allow us to deliver the major step up in capital investment over the next few years.

"As a result, notwithstanding the exceptional US weather, we remain well positioned to deliver another good year, although comparative progress will be impacted by the timing differences that benefited 2010/11."

National Grid announced that next month (December), Sir John Parker will step down from his position as chairman of the board after more than ten years in the role.

Sir Peter Gershon, who joined the board as deputy chairman in August, will take over from Sir John on 1 January 2012.