S&P Affirms Ratings on South Western Electricity.NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Standard & Poor's CreditWire-- June 11, 1999--Standard & Poor's today affirmed af·firm v. af·firmed, af·firm·ing, af·firms v.tr. 1. To declare positively or firmly; maintain to be true. 2. To support or uphold the validity of; confirm. v.intr. its ratings on South Western Electricity PLC (SWEB SWEB South West Electricity Board (England) ), London Electricity London Electricity can refer to:
LEB London Electricity Board (UK) LEB Listeria Enrichment Broth LEB Lebanon/Hanover/White River, NH, USA - Lebanon Regional (Airport Code) LEB Lower Equipment Bay ), and related entities, following SWEB's announcement of its agreement to sell its electricity supply activities to LEB. The outlook on SWEB's ratings remains negative. The ratings on LEB remain on CreditWatch, where they were placed on Nov. 30, 1998, with positive implications. (See list below for all rating actions.) The affirmations reflect the expectation that, after the sale, SWEB's consolidated financial profile will be slightly weaker (as the proceeds will be upstreamed to the group's U.S. parent, Southern Co.; single-'A'/Negative/'A-1'). Also, SWEB will no longer benefit from the operating profits Operating profit (or loss) Revenue from a firm's regular activities less costs and expenses and before income deductions. operating profit See operating income. of about UK10 million ($16 million) that it generated from its supply operations. To offset this marginal weakening weak·en tr. & intr.v. weak·ened, weak·en·ing, weak·ens To make or become weak or weaker. weak  en·er n. in its financial profile, however, the company will
now be a distribution-only business, which is an inherently lower-risk
sector than is supply. The CreditWatch placement on LEB followed the
announcement of its acquisition by Electricite de France (EdF;
double-'A'-plus/Stable/'A-1'-plus) in December 1998.
As a result of the significant divergence divergenceIn mathematics, a differential operator applied to a three-dimensional vector-valued function. The result is a function that describes a rate of change. The divergence of a vector v is given by between the ratings on EdF and LEB, Standard & Poor's expects some upward pull on the ratings on LEB, notwithstanding this further asset purchase. -- CreditWire -0- RATINGS AFFIRMED; OUTLOOK NEGATIVE South Western Electricity PLC Corporate credit ratings A-/A-2 Commercial paper A-2 SWEB Holdings UK Corporate credit ratings A-/A-2 Southern Investments UK Capital Trust I Preferred stock BBB Southern Investments UK PLC Corporate credit ratings A-/A-2 Senior unsecured debt A- RATINGS REMAINING ON CREDITWATCH POSITIVE London Electricity PLC Corporate credit ratings BBB-/A-3 Senior unsecured debt BBB- Commercial paper A-3 |
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