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Constellation Energy Reports Second Quarter 2009 Results.


- Core businesses deliver strong operating performance

- Company substantially completes de-risking activities and improves net available liquidity

- Company increases earnings guidance to $3.10 to $3.30 per share in 2009; reaffirms guidance of $3.05 to $3.45 per share in 2010

BALTIMORE -- Constellation Energy Constellation Energy (NYSE: CEG), headquartered in Baltimore, Maryland, generates, trades, supplies, and distributes energy. The company operates over 35 power plants in 11 states (mainly Maryland, Pennsylvania, New York, West Virginia, and California) under its operating  (NYSE NYSE

See: New York Stock Exchange
: CEG (Continuous Edge Graphics) A VGA RAMDAC chip from Edsun Labs that adds anti-aliasing on the fly. It can also calculate intermediate shades, thus providing thousands of colors on an 8-bit board that normally generates only 256 colors. ) today reported adjusted earnings of $1.08 per share for the second quarter of 2009, compared with adjusted earnings of $1.82 per share in the same period last year. Adjusted earnings exclude the cumulative effects of changes in accounting principles, discontinued operations Discontinued operations

Divisions of a business that have been sold or written off and that no longer are maintained by the business.
 and special items (which are defined as significant items that are not related to our ongoing, underlying business or which distort comparability of results). On a generally accepted accounting principles The standard accounting rules, regulations, and procedures used by companies in maintaining their financial records.

Generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) provide companies and accountants with a consistent set of guidelines that cover both broad accounting
 (GAAP GAAP

See: Generally Accepted Accounting Principles


GAAP

See generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP).
) basis, the company reported earnings of $0.04 per share, compared with earnings of $0.95 per share in the second quarter of 2008. Second quarter 2009 GAAP results reflect negative impacts primarily associated with our divested international commodities, Houston-based gas trading, international uranium marketing and west power trading operations; merger and joint venture transaction costs Transaction Costs

Costs incurred when buying or selling securities. These include brokers' commissions and spreads (the difference between the price the dealer paid for a security and the price they can sell it).
; and the impairment of assets, the majority of which is related to the pending sale of our ownership interest in five dry bulk shipping vessels.

Constellation Energy increased earnings guidance for 2009 to $3.10 to $3.30 per share. The company reaffirmed earnings guidance for 2010 of $3.05 to $3.45 per share.

"Despite the difficult economic cycle, our core business units continue to deliver solid results, our liquidity position has improved markedly and we've made meaningful progress on our strategic realignment re·a·lign  
tr.v. re·a·ligned, re·a·lign·ing, re·a·ligns
1. To put back into proper order or alignment.

2. To make new groupings of or working arrangements between.
 and pending nuclear joint venture with EDF (algorithm) EDF - earliest deadline first.  Group," said Mayo A. Shattuck III Mayo A. Shattuck III (b. 1954 in Massachusetts) is a notable American businessman, and currently Chairman and CEO of Baltimore-based Constellation Energy. Career Synopsis , chairman, president and chief executive officer of Constellation Energy. "Our generation fleet performed extremely well during the second quarter, with better-than-expected reliability and cost control. We continued to see strong margins in our wholesale and retail businesses during the quarter. Our regulated utility, Baltimore Gas and Electric (BGE BGE Baltimore Gas and Electric
BGE Big Green Egg (grill)
BGE Beyond Good and Evil (Nietzsche)
BGE Busch Gardens Europe
BGE Branch If Greater or Equal
BGE Bacterial Growth Efficiency
), has filed plans with Maryland officials for one of the most ambitious Smart Grid This article or section is written like an .
Please help [ rewrite this article] from a neutral point of view.
Mark blatant advertising for , using .
 proposals in the nation.

"Also during the second quarter, we saw the prospects for new nuclear development continue to gain momentum," Shattuck said. "UniStar Nuclear Energy, our joint venture with EDF Group, achieved an important milestone in the quarter with the issuance by the Maryland Public Service Commission (PSC (Public Service Commission) Same as PUC. ) of a certificate of public convenience and necessity for a proposed unit 3 at our Calvert Cliffs Nuclear Power Plant The Calvert Cliffs Nuclear Power Plant (CCNPP) is a nuclear power plant located on the western shores of the Chesapeake Bay in Lusby, Calvert County, Maryland. The plant has two 2700 megawatt thermal (MWth) Combustion Engineering pressurized water reactors. .

"We believe that the strategic realignment we're executing this year will improve the quality of our earnings mix in the near- and long-term and complement our long-term growth objective of being a clean-energy leader in a carbon-constrained economy," said Shattuck.

The following tables summarize adjusted earnings per share and earnings per share reported in accordance with GAAP for the company's business segments and provide a reconciliation to total company reported earnings.
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Baltimore Gas and Electric Company

BGE recorded adjusted earnings of 6 cents per share Cents per share

The amount of a mutual fund's dividend or capital gains distributions that a shareholder will receive for each share owned.
 for the second quarter, as compared with 9 cents for the second quarter of 2008. While demand was down in BGE's service territory due to mild weather and a weaker economy, revenue decoupling Decoupling

The occurrence of returns on asset classes diverging from their normal pattern of correlation.

Notes:
Take for example stock and corporate bond returns, which normally rise and fall together.
 helped to insulate the business. The reduction in adjusted earnings per share as compared with 2008 was driven largely by an increase in the uncollectible accounts receivable reserve.

Merchant

Our Merchant segment recorded adjusted earnings of $1.03 per share, down 71 cents, compared with the second quarter of 2008, primarily driven by the absence of earnings in 2009 as a result of our reduction in trading activities and divested operations. Offsetting these negative results was a strong performance by our Generation operation which increased $0.43 per share, as compared with the second quarter of 2008. This increase is primarily due to higher margins and a reduced number of outage out·age  
n.
1. A quantity or portion of something lacking after delivery or storage.

2. A temporary suspension of operation, especially of electric power.
 days. Customer Supply remained flat as compared with the second quarter of 2008 as lower operating costs operating costs nplgastos mpl operacionales  and earnings from the sale of wholesale contracts were offset by lower wholesale volumes.

Other negative impacts in the second quarter of 2009, as compared with the second quarter of 2008, primarily included higher interest expense and income taxes and dilution from incremental Additional or increased growth, bulk, quantity, number, or value; enlarged.

Incremental cost is additional or increased cost of an item or service apart from its actual cost.
 shares issued at the end of 2008 associated with the termination of the planned merger with MidAmerican Energy Holdings Company MidAmerican Energy Holdings Company is a holding company controlled by Berkshire Hathaway.

MidAmerican holds the following companies:
  • MidAmerican Energy Company
  • PacifiCorp
  • CE Electric UK
  • CalEnergy Generation
  • Kern River Gas Transmission Company
.

Financial Statements

The June 30, 2009, financial statements and supplemental information are attached.

Adjusted Earnings

Constellation Energy presents adjusted earnings per share (adjusted EPS (Encapsulated PostScript) A PostScript file format used to transfer a graphic image between applications and platforms. EPS files contain PostScript code as well as an optional preview image in TIFF, WMF, PICT or EPSI, the latter being an ASCII-only format. ) in addition to its reported earnings per share in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles (reported GAAP EPS). Adjusted EPS is a non-GAAP financial measure that differs from reported GAAP EPS because it excludes the cumulative effects of changes in accounting principles, discontinued operations, special items (which we define as significant items that are not related to our ongoing, underlying business or which distort comparability of results) included in operations, the impact of certain economic, non-qualifying hedges and synfuel syn·fu·el  
n.
A liquid or gaseous fuel derived from coal, shale, or tar sand, or obtained by fermentation of certain substances, such as grain.



[syn(thetic) + fuel.]
 earnings. The mark-to-market impact of these hedges has been significant to reported results but economically neutral to the company in that offsetting gains or losses on underlying accrual positions will be recognized in the future. Synfuel earnings have been excluded due to the potential for oil-price volatility to result in a difficult-to-forecast phase-out of tax credits. Effective in 2009, we are no longer adjusting our reported GAAP EPS for synfuel earnings, due to the expiration of the tax credit, and non-qualifying hedges, which were related to activities conducted by our recently divested operations.

We present adjusted EPS because we believe that it is appropriate for investors to consider results excluding these items in addition to our results in accordance with GAAP. We believe such a measure provides a picture of our results that is more comparable among periods, since it excludes the impact of items such as impairment losses, workforce reduction costs or gains and losses on the sale of assets, which may recur occasionally, but tend to be irregular as to timing, thereby distorting comparisons between periods. However, investors should note that this non-GAAP measure involves judgment by management (in particular, judgment as to what is classified as a special item to be excluded from adjusted earnings). This non-GAAP measure is also used to evaluate management's performance and for compensation purposes.

Constellation Energy also provides its earnings guidance in terms of adjusted EPS. Constellation Energy is unable to reconcile its guidance to GAAP earnings per share because we do not predict the future impact of special items due to the difficulty of doing so. In the past, the impact of special items has been material to our operating results computed in accordance with GAAP. Our 2009 and 2010 guidance excludes the results of the UniStar Nuclear Energy joint venture and any impact from the operations and divestiture The breakup of AT&T. By federal court order, AT&T divested itself on January 1, 1984 of its 23 operating companies, which became known as the Regional Bell Operating Companies (RBOCs).  of our international commodities, Houston-based gas trading, international uranium marketing and west power trading operations, in addition to any other special items that may occur. We note that such information is not in accordance with GAAP and should not be viewed as a substitute to GAAP information.

SEC Filings

The company plans to file its Form 10-Q Form 10-Q

See 10-Q.
 for the three months ended June 30, 2009, on or about August 7, 2009.

Forward-Looking Statements

We make statements in this news release that are considered forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. These statements are not guarantees of our future performance and are subject to risks, uncertainties and other important factors that could cause our actual performance or achievements to be materially different from those we project. For a full discussion of these risks, uncertainties and factors, we encourage you to read our documents on file with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including the disclosures set forth in our periodic reports under the forward-looking statements and risk factors sections. Except as required by law, we do not intend to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

Conference Call July 31, 2009

Constellation Energy will host a conference call at 8:30 a.m. (EDT EDT
abbr.
Eastern Daylight Time


EDT Eastern Daylight Time

EDT n abbr (US) (= Eastern Daylight Time) → hora de verano de Nueva York

EDT 
) on July 31, 2009, to review the results. To participate, analysts, investors, media and the public in the U.S. may dial (888) 455-2894 shortly before 8:30 a.m. The international phone number is (773) 681-5899. The conference password is ENERGY. A replay will be available approximately one hour after the end of the call by dialing (866) 425-0181 or (203) 369-0873 (international).

A live audio webcast of the conference call, presentation slides and the earnings press release will be available on the Investor Relations Investor relations

The process by which the corporation communicates with its investors.
 page of Constellation Energy's Web site (www.constellation.com). A webcast replay, as well as a replay in downloadable MP3 format, will also be available on the site shortly after the completion of the call. The call will also be recorded and archived on the site.

About Constellation Energy

Constellation Energy (www.constellation.com) is a leading supplier of energy products and services to wholesale and retail electric and natural gas customers. It owns a diversified fleet of generating units located throughout the United States United States, officially United States of America, republic (2005 est. pop. 295,734,000), 3,539,227 sq mi (9,166,598 sq km), North America. The United States is the world's third largest country in population and the fourth largest country in area. , totaling approximately 9,000 megawatts of generating capacity, and is among the leaders pursuing the development of new nuclear plants in the United States. The company delivers electricity and natural gas through the Baltimore Gas and Electric Company (BGE), its regulated utility in Central Maryland. A FORTUNE 500 company headquartered in Baltimore, Constellation Energy had revenues of $19.8 billion in 2008.

Addendum addendum n. an addition to a completed written document. Most commonly this is a proposed change or explanation (such as a list of goods to be included) in a contract, or some point that has been subject of negotiation after the contract was originally proposed by  - Amounts Excluded to Arrive at Adjusted EPS
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Operations Being Divested

Consistent with our 2009 earnings guidance, we have excluded the operating results from our international commodities, Houston-based gas trading, international uranium marketing and west power trading operations and the net losses on the sales of these operations.

Impairment Losses and Other Costs

* Shipping joint venture - In the second quarter of 2009, we decided that we would divest our 50 percent stake in a joint venture that owns and operates five dry bulk shipping vessels. In conjunction with that decision, we recorded an "other than temporary" impairment charge.

* Nuclear decommissioning The decommissioning of nuclear power plants is sometimes referred to as nuclear decommissioning, to mark the difference between 'conventional' decommissioning and dismantling projects.  trust investments - As a result of a change in our estimated annual effective tax rate at June 30, 2009, we recorded an adjustment to the income tax benefit associated with the first quarter impairment of several securities held in our nuclear decommissioning trust funds.

* Equity in CEP CEP congenital erythropoietic porphyria.

CEP
abbr.
congenital erythropoietic porphyria
 - As a result of a change in our estimated annual effective tax rate at June 30, 2009, we recorded an adjustment to the income tax benefit associated with the first quarter impairment of our equity method investment in CEP.

* CEP Class D Shares - During the second quarter, we wrote-off the book value of an equity advance that we made in connection with the initial public offering of CEP based on an assessment that the likelihood of its recovery was considered to be remote.

* Other costs associated with divestitures - In connection with the divestiture of a majority of our international commodities and Houston-based gas trading operations, we recorded charges related to certain long-lived assets that ceased to be used as of June 30, 2009.

Merger Termination and Strategic Alternatives Costs

In the second quarter, we recorded additional costs associated with the EDF transaction, including the amortization of credit facility amendment fees that is classified as Interest Expense in our Consolidated Statements of Income (Loss).

UniStar Nuclear Energy Results

Consistent with our 2009 earnings guidance, we have excluded the operating results from UniStar Nuclear Energy as it remains in a development stage.

Workforce Reduction Costs

In the first quarter of 2009, we recorded charges in connection with certain workforce reductions, primarily in connection with the divestiture of a majority of our international commodities operation. Second quarter activity primarily resulted from a change in our estimated annual effective tax rate at June 30, 2009, requiring us to adjust the income tax benefit associated with the first quarter charges.
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Publication:Business Wire
Article Type:Financial report
Date:Jul 31, 2009
Words:1995
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