50Th

Portland, OR-based Northwest Natural Gas Co. Thursday marked its 50th consecutive year of dividend growth and reiterated strong first-quarter 2006 and full-year 2005 earnings during its annual shareholders meeting. Earnings for the first quarter were up compared to the same period last year ($1.48/ vs. $1.43/diluted share for the respective periods), and profits for all of 2005 exceeded those the previous year ($2.11/diluted share last year, compared to $1.86/diluted share for 2004).