Meaningful progress on strategic realignment and pending nuclear joint venture with EDF Group
– By Abby Gessner –
Constellation Energy has 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 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 (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; 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 and pending nuclear joint venture with EDF Group,” said Mayo A. Shattuck III, 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), has filed plans with Maryland officials for one of the most ambitious Smart Grid 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) of a certificate of public convenience and necessity for a proposed unit 3 at our Calvert Cliffs Nuclear Power Plant.
“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.