OKLAHOMA CITY, May 14, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- OGE Energy Corp.
(NYSE: OGE) Chairman and CEO Pete
Delaney today told shareholders gathered for the company's
annual meeting that 2014 was another successful year. Consolidated
earnings were up to $1.98 compared to
$1.94 in 2013, and cash distributions
from Enable Midstream, LP, were $144
million in 2014. In addition, OG&E received a
consecutive win in J.D. Power and Associates' Electric Utility
Residential Customer Satisfaction Study℠.
"We remain on sound financial footing and are well positioned to
deliver on a 10 percent annual dividend growth rate through 2019,"
Delaney said. "That, coupled with our financial guidance at the
utility of 3 – 5 percent earnings growth for the next five years,
will create a return to shareholders that we believe will put us in
first quartile among our industry peers."
Delaney also thanked OGE members for their dedication and
commitment to customer satisfaction, which led to the second
consecutive J.D. Power award.
At OG&E, growth in the customer base increased last year by
almost 8,000 customers and the utility now serves approximately
818,000 customers. And, Delaney added, despite the precipitous drop
in oil, natural gas and natural gas liquids prices, along with
about 8 percent job losses in the oilfield sector, Oklahoma's economy appears to be on sound
footing with an unemployment rate below 4 percent – one of the
lowest in the nation.
Prior to the close of the meeting, Delaney announced his plan to
retire from OGE Energy in the first quarter of 2016, citing the
shareholders' approval of company President Sean Trauschke's nomination to the board as a
critical step in his long-held succession plan for the company.
In voting announced at the annual meeting, OGE Energy
shareholders:
- Elected 10 members of the company's board of directors to
one-year terms:
- James H. Brandi, former
managing director of BNP Paribas Securities Corp., UBS Securities,
LLC and Dillon, Read & Co Inc., was re-elected. He has been a
director of OGE Energy and OG&E since February 2010.
- Luke R. Corbett, former
chairman and chief executive officer of Kerr-McGee, was re-elected.
He has been a director of OGE Energy and OG&E since
December 1996.
- Peter B. Delaney, current
chairman and CEO of OGE Energy Corp.
- John D. Groendyke,
chairman of the board and chief executive officer of Groendyke
Transport Inc., was re-elected. He has been a director of OGE
Energy and OG&E since January
2003.
- Kirk Humphreys, chairman
and manager of The Humphreys Company LLC, was re-elected. He has
been a director of OGE Energy and of OG&E since November 2007.
- Robert Kelley, president
of Kellco Investments Inc., was re-elected. He has been a director
of OGE Energy and OG&E since December
1996.
- Robert O. Lorenz, retired
partner of the Arthur Andersen accounting firm, was re-elected. He
has been a director of OGE Energy and OG&E since July 2005.
- Judy R. McReynolds,
president and chief executive officer of ArcBest Corporation, was
re-elected. She has been a director of OGE Energy and of OG&E
since July 2011.
- Sheila G. Talton,
president and CEO of Gray Matter Analytics, was re-elected. She has
been a director of OGE Energy and OG&E since September 2013;
- Sean Trauschke, current
president of OGE Energy Corp. and OG&E.
- Ratified the appointment of Ernst & Young LLP as the
company's principal independent accountants for 2015;
- Approved, on an advisory basis, the compensation paid to named
executive officers;
- Approved a shareholder proposal request for the company to take
actions in the future to eliminate the supermajority voting
provisions in its certificate of incorporation and adopt simple
majority for certain shareholder voting; and
- Rejected by a large margin a shareowner proposal that the
company prepare and publish a report by September 2015 on greenhouse gas emission
reductions above and beyond compliance, for 40 percent and 80
percent reductions by 2030 and 2050, respectively.
Also today, the Board declared a regular quarterly dividend of
$0.25 per common share of stock, to
be paid July 30, 2015, to
shareholders of record on July 10,
2015. The dividend was unchanged from the previous
quarter.
OGE Energy is the parent company of Oklahoma Gas and Electric
Company, a regulated electric utility serving approximately 818,000
customers in Oklahoma and western
Arkansas. In addition, OGE holds a 26.3 percent limited
partner interest and a 50 percent general partner interest of
Enable Midstream Partners, LP.
Some of the matters discussed in this news release may contain
forward-looking statements that are subject to certain risks,
uncertainties and assumptions. Such forward-looking
statements are intended to be identified in this document by the
words "anticipate", "believe", "estimate", "expect", "intend",
"objective", "plan", "possible", "potential", "project" and similar
expressions. Actual results may vary materially. Factors
that could cause actual results to differ materially include, but
are not limited to: general economic conditions, including the
availability of credit, access to existing lines of credit, access
to the commercial paper markets, actions of rating agencies and
their impact on capital expenditures; the ability of the Company
and its subsidiaries to access the capital markets and obtain
financing on favorable terms as well as inflation rates and
monetary fluctuations; prices and availability of electricity,
coal, natural gas and natural gas liquids, each on a stand-alone
basis and in relation to each other as well as the processing
contract mix between percent-of-liquids, percent-of-proceeds,
keep-whole and fixed-fee; business conditions in the energy and
natural gas midstream industries; competitive factors including the
extent and timing of the entry of additional competition in the
markets served by the Company; unusual weather; availability and
prices of raw materials for current and future construction
projects; Federal or state legislation and regulatory decisions and
initiatives that affect cost and investment recovery, have an
impact on rate structures or affect the speed and degree to which
competition enters the Company's markets; environmental laws and
regulations that may impact the Company's operations; changes in
accounting standards, rules or guidelines; the discontinuance of
accounting principles for certain types of rate-regulated
activities; the cost of protecting assets against, or damage due
to, terrorism or cyber attacks and other catastrophic events;
advances in technology; creditworthiness of suppliers, customers
and other contractual parties; the higher degree of risk associated
with the Company's nonregulated business compared with the
Company's regulated utility business; and other risk factors listed
in the reports filed by the Company with the Securities and
Exchange Commission including those listed in Risk Factors and
Exhibit 99.01 to the Company's Form 10-K for the year ended
December 31, 2014.
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SOURCE OGE Energy Corp.