Going out of its way to ensure investors that the stock sale was only a way to pay off personal income taxes, Aquila Inc. said Wednesday that CEO Richard C. Green Jr. has filed documents with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to formally report the sale of 551,018 shares of company stock.

In an effort to making sure that the action was not seen as abandoning ship in light of the company’s current financial troubles, Green said all proceeds from the sale will be used to pay personal federal income taxes due as restrictions lapsed on the Aquila stock Green received over the past several years. The majority of Green’s compensation during these years has been in the form of restricted company stock.

“The sale of this stock is driven entirely by the need to pay personal taxes and is not an indication of any lessening of commitment toward executing our company’s recovery plans,” Green said. “I remain as focused as ever on building a new future for the company, and I especially remain committed to our employees who are working hard to make that future happen.”

Aquila noted that this is the first time since 1999 that Green has sold company stock. As a result of the sale, Green now owns, or beneficially owns, 1.2 million shares of Aquila stock. A large number of these shares were accumulated over the past six years when Green chose to receive a major portion of his compensation in restricted stock.

The sale announcement complies with SEC rules that require executives to abstain from transactions in company stock while in possession of material inside information, such as earnings details. Aquila’s company policy requires that executives wait several days after the announcement of quarterly results before initiating any stock transactions. The company announced second quarter results on Aug. 12.

For the second quarter 2003, large losses continued at Aquila, but they were substantially smaller than in 2Q2002 when the company reported a net loss of $810 million (see Daily GPI, Aug. 13). Aquila, which is exiting energy trading and most of its merchant energy operations to focus on its core utility business, reported an $80.6 million net loss, or ($0.41)/share, during the second quarter of 2003.

©Copyright 2003 Intelligence Press Inc. All rights reserved. The preceding news report may not be republished or redistributed, in whole or in part, in any form, without prior written consent of Intelligence Press, Inc.