Atmos Energy Corp. said Tuesday that earnings in its fiscal first quarter more than doubled from a year ago. Net income was $59.6 million (79 cents/share), compared with $29.5 million (57 cents) for fiscal 1Q2004.

Earnings include results of operations of TXU Gas Co., which Atmos acquired last year. Atmos formed its Mid-Tex Division to operate the utility distribution operations and its Atmos Pipeline-Texas Division to operate the gas pipeline and storage operations. Together, the new divisions contributed $24.3 million of the total $30.1 million increase in net income for the 2005 first quarter.

“Our 2005 first quarter results display how beneficial the TXU Gas acquisition will be for Atmos Energy,” said CEO Robert W. Best. “In our utility segment, the acquisition clearly strengthened our earnings and offers prospects for continued growth.” He said he was “confident” that Atmos was on track to meet its announced 2005 earnings guidance of $1.65-1.75/share.

Utility gross profit increased to $257.3 million, compared with $138.4 million in the same period a year ago. Consolidated utility throughput increased to 118.9 Bcf for 1Q2005, compared with 68.2 Bcf for 1Q2004. In the first quarter, weather was 12% warmer than normal, as adjusted for jurisdictions with weather-normalized operations. Excluding the new Mid-Tex operations, weather was 6% warmer than normal and 1% warmer than the same period last year.

Natural gas marketing gross profit was $26.8 million, compared with $17.5 million in the same period last year, before intersegment eliminations. The improvement was primarily attributed to the mark-to-market impact on increased physical volumes in storage. Consolidated natural gas marketing sales volumes were 60.3 Bcf in 1Q2005, compared with 58.9 Bcf in the prior-year quarter.

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