JUNO BEACH, Fla., Sept. 14, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- NextEra Energy,
Inc. (NYSE: NEE) today announced that, based on the ongoing
strength of the renewables development environment and the
continued execution across all of its businesses, it is increasing
its financial expectations for 2021 and 2022 and is extending its
longer-term growth outlook to 2023. For 2021, NextEra Energy is
increasing its financial expectations ranges by $0.20 and now expects adjusted earnings per share
to be in the range of $9.60 to
$10.15. For 2022 and 2023, NextEra
Energy expects to grow 6% to 8%, off the expected increased 2021
adjusted earnings per share.
"The increase and extension of our financial expectations is a
reflection of NextEra Energy's continued strong performance across
all of its businesses and our belief that we remain as
well-positioned as ever with excellent prospects for growth," said
Jim Robo, NextEra Energy chairman
and chief executive officer. "The market for low-cost renewables
continues to rapidly expand, and we believe our best-in-class
development skills leave us uniquely positioned to capitalize on
these significant investment opportunities. As a result of the
strength and diversity of NextEra Energy's underlying businesses, I
will be disappointed if we are not able to deliver financial
results at or near the top end of our adjusted earnings per share
expectations ranges in 2020, 2021, 2022, and now 2023, while at the
same time maintaining our strong credit ratings and, most
importantly, continuing to reliably deliver for our customers. We
have a long-standing track record of delivering value for our
shareholders and remain focused on delivering on all of our
commitments going forward."
In addition, the NextEra Energy board of directors has approved
a four-for-one split of NextEra Energy common stock, which is
intended to make stock ownership more accessible to a broader base
of investors. Each shareholder of record on Oct. 19, 2020, will receive three additional
shares of common stock for each then-held share, to be distributed
on Oct. 26, 2020. Trading will begin
on a stock split-adjusted basis on Oct. 27,
2020.
As a result of the four-for-one stock split, NextEra Energy is
updating its adjusted earnings per share financial
expectations ranges to reflect the increase in outstanding shares.
In 2020, the company now expects adjusted earnings per share to be
in the range of $2.18 to $2.30. For 2021, the company expects adjusted
earnings per share to be in the range of $2.40 to $2.54,
reflecting today's announced increase in the financial expectations
as a result of the ongoing strength of the renewables development
environment. For 2022 and 2023, NextEra Energy expects to grow 6%
to 8%, off the expected increased 2021 adjusted earnings per share.
For 2022 and 2023, this translates to a range of $2.55 to $2.75 and
$2.77 to $2.97, respectively.
NextEra Energy's adjusted earnings expectations exclude the
cumulative effect of adopting new accounting standards; the effects
of non-qualifying hedges and unrealized gains and losses on equity
securities held in NextEra Energy Resources' nuclear
decommissioning funds and OTTI, none of which can be determined at
this time. Adjusted earnings expectations also exclude the effects
of NextEra Energy Partners, LP net investment gains; gains on
disposal of a business; differential membership interests-related;
and acquisition-related expenses. In addition, adjusted earnings
expectations assume, among other things, normal weather and
operating conditions; supportive commodity markets; current forward
curves; public policy support for wind and solar development and
construction; market demand and transmission expansion to support
wind and solar development; market demand for pipeline capacity;
access to capital at reasonable cost and terms; no divestitures
other than to NextEra Energy Partners, LP or acquisitions; no
adverse litigation decisions; and no changes to governmental tax
policy or incentives. Please see the accompanying cautionary
statements for a list of the risk factors that may affect future
results.
Lastly, Rebecca Kujawa, executive
vice president, finance and chief financial officer of NextEra
Energy, and chief financial officer of NextEra Energy Partners, is
scheduled to participate at the UBS Renewables and Energy
Transition Conference on Sept. 15,
2020, at 7 a.m. ET. A live
audio webcast and a copy of the updated September presentation
materials is now available at www.NextEraEnergy.com/investors. For
those unable to listen to the live webcast, a replay will be
available for 90 days by accessing the link above.
NextEra Energy, Inc.
NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE: NEE) is a leading clean energy company
headquartered in Juno Beach,
Florida. NextEra Energy owns two electric companies in
Florida: Florida Power & Light Company, which serves
more than 5 million customer accounts in Florida and is the largest rate-regulated
electric utility in the United
States as measured by retail electricity produced and sold;
and Gulf Power Company, which serves approximately 470,000
customers in eight counties throughout northwest Florida. NextEra
Energy also owns a competitive clean energy business, NextEra
Energy Resources, LLC, which, together with its affiliated
entities, is the world's largest generator of renewable energy from
the wind and sun and a world leader in battery storage. Through its
subsidiaries, NextEra Energy generates clean, emissions-free
electricity from eight commercial nuclear power units in
Florida, New Hampshire, Iowa and Wisconsin. A Fortune 200 company and included
in the S&P 100 index, NextEra Energy has been recognized often
by third parties for its efforts in sustainability, corporate
responsibility, ethics and compliance, and diversity. NextEra
Energy is ranked No. 1 in the electric and gas utilities industry
on Fortune's 2020 list of "World's Most Admired Companies" and
ranked among the top 25 on Fortune's 2018 list of companies that
"Change the World." For more information about NextEra Energy
companies, visit these websites: www.NextEraEnergy.com,
www.FPL.com, www.GulfPower.com, www.NextEraEnergyResources.com.
Cautionary Statements and Risk Factors That
May Affect Future Results
This news release contains "forward-looking statements" within
the meaning of the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities
Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements are not
statements of historical facts, but instead represent the current
expectations of NextEra Energy, Inc. (NextEra Energy) and
Florida Power & Light Company
(FPL) regarding future operating results and other future events,
many of which, by their nature, are inherently uncertain and
outside of NextEra Energy's and FPL's control.
Forward-looking statements in this news release include, among
others, statements concerning adjusted earnings per share
expectations and future operating performance, statements
concerning future dividends, and results of acquisitions. In some
cases, you can identify the forward-looking statements by words or
phrases such as "will," "may result," "expect," "anticipate,"
"believe," "intend," "plan," "seek," "potential," "projection,"
"forecast," "predict," "goals," "target," "outlook," "should,"
"would" or similar words or expressions. You should not place undue
reliance on these forward-looking statements, which are not a
guarantee of future performance. The future results of NextEra
Energy and FPL and their business and financial condition are
subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause their actual
results to differ materially from those expressed or implied in the
forward-looking statements, or may require them to limit or
eliminate certain operations. These risks and uncertainties
include, but are not limited to, those discussed in this news
release and the following: effects of extensive regulation of
NextEra Energy's and FPL's business operations; inability of
NextEra Energy and FPL to recover in a timely manner any
significant amount of costs, a return on certain assets or a
reasonable return on invested capital through base rates, cost
recovery clauses, other regulatory mechanisms or otherwise; impact
of political, regulatory and economic factors on regulatory
decisions important to NextEra Energy and FPL; disallowance of cost
recovery by FPL based on a finding of imprudent use of derivative
instruments; effect of any reductions or modifications to, or
elimination of, governmental incentives or policies that support
utility scale renewable energy projects of NextEra Energy
Resources, LLC and its affiliated entities (NextEra Energy
Resources) or the imposition of additional tax laws, policies or
assessments on renewable energy; impact of new or revised laws,
regulations, interpretations or ballot or regulatory initiatives on
NextEra Energy and FPL; capital expenditures, increased operating
costs and various liabilities attributable to environmental laws,
regulations and other standards applicable to NextEra Energy and
FPL; effects on NextEra Energy and FPL of federal or state laws or
regulations mandating new or additional limits on the production of
greenhouse gas emissions; exposure of NextEra Energy and FPL to
significant and increasing compliance costs and substantial
monetary penalties and other sanctions as a result of extensive
federal regulation of their operations and businesses; effect on
NextEra Energy and FPL of changes in tax laws, guidance or policies
as well as in judgments and estimates used to determine tax-related
asset and liability amounts; impact on NextEra Energy and FPL of
adverse results of litigation; effect on NextEra Energy and FPL of
failure to proceed with projects under development or inability to
complete the construction of (or capital improvements to) electric
generation, transmission and distribution facilities, gas
infrastructure facilities or other facilities on schedule or within
budget; impact on development and operating activities of NextEra
Energy and FPL resulting from risks related to project siting,
financing, construction, permitting, governmental approvals and the
negotiation of project development agreements; risks involved in
the operation and maintenance of electric generation, transmission
and distribution facilities, gas infrastructure facilities, retail
gas distribution system in Florida
and other facilities; effect on NextEra Energy and FPL of a lack of
growth or slower growth in the number of customers or in customer
usage; impact on NextEra Energy and FPL of severe weather and other
weather conditions; threats of terrorism and catastrophic events
that could result from terrorism, cyberattacks or other attempts to
disrupt NextEra Energy's and FPL's business or the businesses of
third parties; inability to obtain adequate insurance coverage for
protection of NextEra Energy and FPL against significant losses and
risk that insurance coverage does not provide protection against
all significant losses; a prolonged period of low gas and oil
prices could impact NextEra Energy Resources' gas infrastructure
business and cause NextEra Energy Resources to delay or cancel
certain gas infrastructure projects and could result in certain
projects becoming impaired; risk to NextEra Energy Resources of
increased operating costs resulting from unfavorable supply costs
necessary to provide NextEra Energy Resources' full energy and
capacity requirement services; inability or failure by NextEra
Energy Resources to manage properly or hedge effectively the
commodity risk within its portfolio; effect of reductions in the
liquidity of energy markets on NextEra Energy's ability to manage
operational risks; effectiveness of NextEra Energy's and FPL's risk
management tools associated with their hedging and trading
procedures to protect against significant losses, including the
effect of unforeseen price variances from historical behavior;
impact of unavailability or disruption of power transmission or
commodity transportation facilities on sale and delivery of power
or natural gas by NextEra Energy, including FPL; exposure of
NextEra Energy and FPL to credit and performance risk from
customers, hedging counterparties and vendors; failure of NextEra
Energy or FPL counterparties to perform under derivative contracts
or of requirement for NextEra Energy or FPL to post margin cash
collateral under derivative contracts; failure or breach of NextEra
Energy's or FPL's information technology systems; risks to NextEra
Energy and FPL's retail businesses from compromise of sensitive
customer data; losses from volatility in the market values of
derivative instruments and limited liquidity in OTC markets; impact
of negative publicity; inability of NextEra Energy and FPL to
maintain, negotiate or renegotiate acceptable franchise agreements
with municipalities and counties in Florida; occurrence of work strikes or
stoppages and increasing personnel costs; NextEra Energy's ability
to successfully identify, complete and integrate acquisitions,
including the effect of increased competition for acquisitions;
environmental, health and financial risks associated with NextEra
Energy Resources' and FPL's ownership and operation of nuclear
generation facilities; liability of NextEra Energy and FPL for
significant retrospective assessments and/or retrospective
insurance premiums in the event of an incident at certain nuclear
generation facilities; increased operating and capital expenditures
and/or reduced revenues at nuclear generation facilities of NextEra
Energy or FPL resulting from orders or new regulations of the
Nuclear Regulatory Commission; inability to operate any of NextEra
Energy Resources' or FPL's owned nuclear generation units through
the end of their respective operating licenses; effect of
disruptions, uncertainty or volatility in the credit and capital
markets or actions by third parties in connection with
project-specific or other financing arrangements on NextEra
Energy's and FPL's ability to fund their liquidity and capital
needs and meet their growth objectives; inability of NextEra
Energy, FPL and NextEra Energy Capital Holdings, Inc. to maintain
their current credit ratings; impairment of NextEra Energy's and
FPL's liquidity from inability of credit providers to fund their
credit commitments or to maintain their current credit ratings;
poor market performance and other economic factors that could
affect NextEra Energy's defined benefit pension plan's funded
status; poor market performance and other risks to the asset values
of NextEra Energy's and FPL's nuclear decommissioning funds;
changes in market value and other risks to certain of NextEra
Energy's investments; effect of inability of NextEra Energy
subsidiaries to pay upstream dividends or repay funds to NextEra
Energy or of NextEra Energy's performance under guarantees of
subsidiary obligations on NextEra Energy's ability to meet its
financial obligations and to pay dividends on its common stock; the
fact that the amount and timing of dividends payable on NextEra
Energy's common stock, as well as the dividend policy approved by
NextEra Energy's board of directors from time to time, and changes
to that policy, are within the sole discretion of NextEra Energy's
board of directors and, if declared and paid, dividends may be in
amounts that are less than might be expected by shareholders; NEP's
inability to access sources of capital on commercially reasonable
terms could have an effect on its ability to consummate future
acquisitions and on the value of NextEra Energy's limited partner
interest in NextEra Energy Operating Partners, LP; effects of
disruptions, uncertainty or volatility in the credit and capital
markets on the market price of NextEra Energy's common stock; and
the ultimate severity and duration of the coronavirus pandemic and
its effects on NextEra Energy's or FPL's businesses. NextEra Energy
and FPL discuss these and other risks and uncertainties in their
annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2019 and other SEC filings, and this
news release should be read in conjunction with such SEC filings.
The forward-looking statements made in this news release are made
only as of the date of this news release and NextEra Energy and FPL
undertake no obligation to update any forward-looking
statements.
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SOURCE NextEra Energy, Inc.