Quarterly

Mirant shares fell another 14% Wednesday morning a day after the company said it would delay the release of its quarterly and year-end earnings because of an ongoing audit (see Power Market Today, Feb. 26). Mirant shares were down 23 cents to $1.39 at 2 p.m.

While many energy companies have been cowering behind ugly third quarter financial results, Entergy Corp. on Wednesday stood out in the crowd with substantially higher earnings. In fact, operational earnings per share were up 21%, setting a new company record for third quarter.

The strength of the upstream sector holds the key to the performance of integrated oil and gas companies going forward, as poor quarterly earnings and lower forecasts going into 2003 require independents and majors to rethink their operating strategies.

Turning around its quarterly earnings to post a gain, Chicago-based Peoples Energy on Friday posted net income for the fourth quarter ended Sept. 30 of $1.7 million, or $0.05 per diluted share, compared with a loss of $13 million, or ($0.37) per share. Peoples beat a Thomson First Call consensus estimate of 2 cents a share for the period.

In its first quarterly financial report since EnCana Corp. was formed in April by the merger of PanCanadian and Alberta Energy Company, the company reported stable earnings and company officials predicted solid growth in the future despite the decline in commodity prices and current turmoil in the industry.

Even though its second quarter income fell more than 90% from the same period a year ago — mostly because of natural gas trading losses — the CEO and chairman of American Electric Power (AEP) held fast to the company’s commitment to marketing and trading, and said that going forward, AEP expects the trading business to be a “significant contributor” for 2002. The company lost $20 million, or 4 cents a share, on gas trading in the quarter — mainly in April — but expects to make up the losses because of rising returns in May and June.

Even though its second quarter income fell more than 90% from the same period a year ago — mostly because of natural gas trading losses — the CEO and chairman of American Electric Power (AEP) held fast to the company’s commitment to marketing and trading, and said that going forward, AEP expects the trading business to be a “significant contributor” for 2002. The company lost $20 million, or 4 cents a share, on gas trading in the quarter — mainly in April — but expects to make up the losses because of rising returns in May and June.

In its first quarterly financial report since EnCana Corp. was formed in April by the merger of PanCanadian and Alberta Energy Company, the company reported stable earnings and company officials predicted solid growth in the future despite the decline in commodity prices and current turmoil in the industry.

Even though its second quarter income fell more than 90% from the same period a year ago — mostly because of natural gas trading losses — the CEO and chairman of American Electric Power (AEP) held fast to the company’s commitment to marketing and trading, and said that going forward, AEP expects the trading business to be a “significant contributor” for 2002. The company lost $20 million, or 4 cents a share, on gas trading in the quarter — mainly in April — but expects to make up the losses because of rising returns in May and June.