Piedmont Natural Gas Initiates Fiscal Year 2010 Earnings Guidance
November 02 2009 - 6:12PM
PR Newswire (US)
CHARLOTTE, N.C., Nov. 2 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Charlotte based
Piedmont Natural Gas (NYSE:PNY) is initiating its earnings guidance
for the fiscal year ending October 31, 2010 in the range of $1.90
to $2.00 per diluted share. The guidance for fiscal year 2010
reflects: -- A one time gain of $0.42 per share on the previously
announced sale of one-half of the Company's 30% ownership interest
in SouthStar Energy Services (SouthStar) to AGL Resources. The
transaction is scheduled to close on January 1, 2010, -- Earnings
sharing from SouthStar in the Company's first fiscal quarter at the
current rate of approximately 25%. The remainder of the fiscal year
would reflect the new ownership and earnings sharing arrangement of
15%, -- Margin growth from gross customer additions of 1.3% in the
Company's North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee service
areas, -- A $1.1 million annual margin increase effective November
1, 2009 pursuant to a settlement agreement filed in the Company's
2009 South Carolina Rate Stabilization Act proceeding, -- The
continuation of the Company's business process improvement programs
offset by approximately $2.0 million in expenses related to a
corporate repositioning program to update the Company's brand,
internet web site and associated sales and marketing communication
channels for its customers, shareholders and the public, and an
estimated $2.5 million increase in pension expense under FAS 87, --
Utility capital expenditures of $195.4 million, including $46.3
million for pipeline infrastructure to serve two gas-fired power
generation projects in North Carolina that were deferred from last
year's capital program at the request of the customers. No capital
expenditures will be made in fiscal year 2010 related to the
Company's deferred Robeson LNG storage project. Capital
expenditures for the recently announced $85 million Wayne County
project with Progress Energy will not affect capital expenditures
until fiscal years 2011 and 2012, -- A common stock repurchase
program to permanently reduce shares outstanding by one million
shares. The Company's typical program of making open market share
purchases to satisfy requirement for its Dividend Reinvestment
Program and other stock based programs will also continue, and --
No new long-term debt issuance during fiscal year 2010. Forward
Looking Statement This press release contains forward-looking
statements. These statements are based on management's current
expectations and information currently available and are believed
to be reasonable and are made in good faith. However, the
forward-looking statements are subject to future events, risks,
uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual results to
differ materially from those projected in the statements. Factors
that may make the actual results differ from anticipated results
include, but are not limited to, weather conditions, rate of
customer growth, the cost and availability of natural gas,
competition from other energy providers, new legislation and
regulations and application of existing laws and regulations,
economic and capital market conditions, the cost and availability
of labor and materials and other uncertainties, all of which are
difficult to predict and some of which are beyond our control. For
these reasons, you should not rely on these forward-looking
statements when making investment decisions. The words "expect,"
"believe," "project," "anticipate," "intend," "should," "could,"
"will," "assume," "can," "estimate," "forecast," "future,"
"indicate," "outlook," "plan," "predict," "seek," "target,"
"would," and variations of such words and similar expressions are
intended to identify forward-looking statements. Forward-looking
statements are only as of the date they are made and we do not
undertake any obligation to update publicly any forward-looking
statement, either as a result of new information, future events or
otherwise. More information about the risks and uncertainties
relating to these forward-looking statements may be found in
Piedmont's latest Forms 10-K and 10-Q, which are available on the
SEC's website at http://www.sec.gov/. About Piedmont Natural Gas
Piedmont Natural Gas is an energy services company primarily
engaged in the distribution of natural gas to more than one million
residential, commercial and industrial utility customers in North
Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee, including 61,000 customers
served by municipalities who are wholesale customers. Our
subsidiaries are invested in joint venture, energy-related
businesses, including unregulated retail natural gas marketing,
interstate natural gas storage and intrastate natural gas
transportation. Additional information about Piedmont is available
on the Internet at http://www.piedmontng.com/. DATASOURCE: Piedmont
Natural Gas CONTACT: Investors: Nick Giaimo, +1-704-731-4952, ; or
Media, David Trusty, +1-704-731-4391, Web Site:
http://www.piedmontng.com/
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