Sempra Energy reports first quarter earnings
Friday, May 2—
San Diego-based Sempra Energy reports first quarter earnings of $247 million, or 99 cents per diluted share, compared to $178 million, or 72 cents per diluted share, in the same period last year.
The figure includes a $9 million after-tax charge for the closure of the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station. Otherwise, the parent company of San Diego Gas & Electric and Southern California Gas Co. would have made $256 million, or $1.03 per diluted share.
“We are seeing year-over-year earnings growth consistent with our expectations,” said Debra Reed, CEO of Sempra Energy. “We are on track to meet our 2014 earnings guidance.”
Both utilities saw improved profits from rate hikes that went into effect after the first quarter of last year.
For SDG&E, first quarter earnings were $99 million, compared to $91 million in the 2013 first quarter. The performance in the first three months of 2014 also included the $9 million nuclear plant charge.
SoCalGas also benefited from the new rates, earning $78 million in the first quarter, up from $46 million in the year-ago period. The performance of other subsidiaries were mixed.
Sempra Mexico earned more money in the first quarter of this year, $42 million, compared to the same period last year, $31 million, thanks to less income tax expenses and income from the construction of pipelines.
Sempra Renewables made $28 million in the first three months of this year, compared with $4 million in the first quarter 2013, due primarily to the sale of a 50 percent interest in a solar energy project.
Sempra South American Utilities made less money, with earnings of $35 million in the first quarter 2014, compared with $37 million in the first quarter 2013.
Earnings for Sempra Natural Gas were $9 million in the first quarter 2014, compared with $53 million in the first quarter 2013. Last year’s figure was skewed by the $44 million sale of half of a natural gas-fired power plant.
Sempra said several large projects in Mexico and Peru were set to begin operating later this year, and construction is soon to begin on a liquefied natural gas export project in Louisiana.
—City News Service