National Grid today indicated it could be on the verge of turning the tide of industrial history by bidding for a major chunk of Germany's electricity market.

Grid boss Steve Holliday admitted he is looking at ripping up the group's strategy of concentrating on the UK and US energy markets, and taking the plunge into Europe.

"Our investors would be angry if we did not look at it," Holliday said of news that German power giant E.ON is to sell its electricity pylons and high-voltage power grid, which covers 40% of the Europe's largest economy.

A move by Grid would have huge political and industrial resonance.

Europe's power houses, such as E.ON, German arch-rival RWE, EDF of France and Iberdrola of Spain, have plundered the liberalised British energy market to the point where about half the nation's power assets are in the hands of overseas concerns. At the same time, Britain's power groups, such as the Grid and British Gas outfit Centrica have been shut out of the Continent because of the Berlin and Paris governments' refusal to deregulate their markets.

E.ON is selling its transmission business, which has annual revenues of €4.4 billion (£3.5 billion) after a European Commission probe found it guilty of anti-competitive practices. Grid would face tough competition fromglobal funds such as Macquarie and Babcock & Brown in an auction.

"Europe has previously been closed to us," said Holliday. "We know it is something we can run but it has to make economic sense."

Grid today reported a 24% leap in pre-tax profits to £1.8 billion in the year to 31 March, buoyed by its KeySpan acquisition in New York. It lifted the final dividend by 15% to 33p and reiterated its pledge to grow the payout by 8% a year until March 2012.