Excluding its liquefied natural gas (LNG) business that is not producing revenues yet, San Diego-based Sempra Energy Wednesday reported increased earnings in the first quarter across most of its major ongoing business units — utilities, generation, and pipeline/storage. CEO Stephen Baum called the results “solid” and “on track,” reaffirming the company’s earnings-per-share guidance for the year in the $3.10 to $3.30 range.

Overall in this year’s first three months, earnings were $223 million, or 92 cents/diluted share, compared with $197 million, or 85 cents/diluted share for last year’s first quarter. Baum said the first-quarter net income included $59 million related to what he called “favorable resolution of federal and state income tax issues from prior years for both the parent company and California utilities [Southern California Gas and San Diego Gas and Electric].”

The comparable first quarter 2004 results include a $24 million loss related to discontinued operations and $16 million in net income related to the favorable resolution of prior year’s income tax issues, Sempra said in its earnings announcement. Revenues in the first quarter were $2.7 billion, compared with $2.4 billion in the same quarter last year, due to increased power and commodity sales, the company said.

While the developing LNG operations, including the siting for three new North American coastal receiving terminals (North Baja, California, Texas and Louisiana), recorded a net loss of $5 million in the first quarter, the utilities, generation and pipeline/storage business units all reported increased profits compared with the first quarter the previous year. Commodities, including energy trading, lost ground, earning $29 million for the quarter, compared to $57 million in 1Q 2004.

SDG&E’s net income was $59 million in this most recent quarter, compared to $50 million in the first quarter of 2004; SoCalGas earned $69 million, compared with $56 million the same quarter a year earlier.

Sempra Generation reported earnings of $46 million, compared to $35 million for the same period in 2004. The natural gas pipelines and storage business had net income of $13 million, compared with $11 million in the year-ago first quarter.

Noting that accounting rules impact when the company can recognize earnings in the commodities unit, Baum said he expected to see “continued quarter-to-quarter variation in reported earnings” in that business unit, and on the LNG front, the company is “making good progress.”

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