By Tess Stynes
NRG Energy Inc.'s (NRG) swung to a third-quarter profit as the
merchant power generator received a boost from its GenOn Energy
Inc. acquisition.
For the year, NRG Energy lowered the high end of its previous
guidance range for earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation
and amoratization by $100 million and now expects $2.55 billion to
$2.6 billion.
For 2014, the company cut its Ebitda forecast to $2.7 billion to
$2.9 billion, from its previous estimate for Ebitda of $2.85
billion to $3.05 billion.
NRG has been aiming to acquire an Edison International (EIX)
unit's coal plants, wind farms and other assets of out of
bankruptcy in a $2.6 billion deal. Edison Mission sells electricity
in unregulated markets, and has struggled to make money through a
prolonged period of low prices, weak power demand and rising costs
at the unit's aging coal-fired power plants in Illinois. The unit
filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in December.
NRG, which is based in Princeton, N.J., had planned to provide
details of the deal during its conference call set for Tuesday at 9
a.m. New York time.
For NRG, the pending acquisition is the latest in a string of
purchases that have bulked up its fleet of conventional power
plants and its retail power-sales business. NRG last year became
the biggest wholesale electricity company in the U.S. after it
bought rival GenOn Energy in an all-stock deal valued at about $1.7
billion.
NRG reported a profit of $124 million compared with a
year-earlier net loss of $1 million. On a per-share basis, which
includes preferred dividend impacts, earnings were 38 cents,
compared with a year-earlier loss of a penny a share. The lastest
period included $53 million in negative mark-to-market impacts. The
year-earlier period included debt-extinguishment losses of $41
million and mark-to-market losses of $263 million. Revenue
increased 50% to $3.49 billion.
Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters recently expected per-share
earnings of 83 cents and revenue of $3.08 billion.
NRG Yield Inc. (NYLD), which went public in July, is a vehicle
through which NRG Energy will own, operate and acquire contracted
renewable and conventional generation and thermal infrastructure
assets that are supposed to produce a steady stream of revenue that
can be disbursed to shareholders in the form of dividends.
Shares closed Monday at $28.04 and were inactive in recent
premarket trading.
Write to Tess Stynes at tess.stynes@wsj.com
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