By Lisa Beilfuss
Southern Co., one of the biggest utilities in the U.S., said
profit rose in its latest quarter, as the company took a smaller
hit from its delayed Kemper County plant project.
Shares of Southern, down about 9% this year through Tuesday's
close, slipped a penny to $44.65 Wednesday as the company's revenue
fell short of expectations.
The company's results in recent quarters have been dogged by
charges stemming from its Kemper County project, a clean-coal power
plant under construction in Mississippi, and from four nuclear
reactors under construction in Georgia. Southern has repeatedly
delayed completion dates and confirmed this week that it doesn't
expect to bring the Kemper facility online until the first half of
next year.
Over the first quarter, Southern took a $6 million after-tax
charge related to Kemper construction delays. A year ago, the
charge was $235 million.
Utilities have suffered from sluggish sales growth over recent
years, in part because of changing patterns in electricity
consumption. Weather was a factor over the latest quarter, but the
company said weather was offset by revenue effects at traditional
operating companies.
The Atlanta-based power company said residential energy sales
fell 4.2% during the quarter, while commercial sales declined 1.1%,
primarily because of milder winter weather. In a report this month,
the U.S. Energy Information Administration said retail sales of
electricity to the residential sector fell about 2.3% from a year
earlier, as the average temperature across the country was
milder.
In all, Southern reported a profit of $508 million, or 56 cents
a share, up from $351 million, or 39 cents, a year earlier.
Revenue decreased 10% to $4.2 billion.
Analysts expected 58 cents in earnings per share and $4.6
billion in revenue.
Write to Lisa Beilfuss at lisa.beilfuss@wsj.com
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