Northeast Utilities today reported a 45 percent rise in third-quarter earnings and said it will rely mostly on cash flow for capital needs, such as improving reliability of electric and natural gas service over the next five years.
The parent of Connecticut Light & Power and Yankee Gas Services Co. earned $72.7 million, or 47 cents a share, in the three months ended Sept. 30, compared with $50.2 million, or 32 cents a share, in the third quarter of 2007. Most of the profits came from NU’s power transmission and distribution and generation businesses, the company said.
In the first nine months of this year, Berlin-based NU earned $188.9 million, or $1.21 a share. That compares with $173.8 million, or $1.12 per share, in the first nine months of 2007.
Nine-month 2008 results include an after-tax charge of $29.8 million, or 19 cents a share, associated with the settlement of litigation in the first quarter of 2008. Excluding the litigation charge, NU earned $218.7 million, or $1.40 per share, in the first nine months of 2008.
At 11 a.m., NU shares traded at $21.49, up 48 cents, or 2.3 percent.
Charles W. Shivery, NU’s chairman, president and chief executive officer, said earnings benefited primarily from growth in the company’s transmission segment, in which the company continues to invest heavily to meet the regional energy needs of customers.
NU also affirmed its 2008 consolidated earnings guidance of between $1.60 a share and $1.75 a share including the litigation settlement charge, and between $1.80 per share(1) and $1.95 per share(1) excluding it.
Shivery said the company expects to finance an increasing amount of its capital expenditures over the next five years through internally generated funds.
NU’s internally generated cash, after the scheduled repayment of rate reduction bonds, is projected to increase from approximately $450 million in 2008 to approximately $550 million in 2009, reaching approximately $1 billion in 2013.
