(3) Earnings for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2016 and 2015 include costs related to the acquisition of Southern Company Gas and earnings for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2016 include costs related to the acquisitions of PowerSecure International, Inc. and the 50% interest in Southern Natural Gas Company, L.L.C. (SNG). Further costs are expected to continue to occur in connection with the related integration activities; however, the amount and duration of such expenditures is uncertain. |
(6) Earnings for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2016 include the earnings of Southern Company Gas since July 1, 2016 (the date of acquisition), as well as debt financing costs related to the acquisition. Earnings of Southern Company Gas since September 1, 2016 include amounts related to its acquisition of a 50% ownership interest in SNG. In addition, earnings per share for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2016 include the impact of 22,312,373 shares ($1.1 billion) of common stock issued in August 2016 to finance a portion of the purchase price for the SNG acquisition.
The timing of completion of the acquisition of Southern Company Gas was uncertain at the time Southern Company issued earnings per share guidance in February 2016, and Southern Company's agreement to acquire a 50% interest in SNG did not occur until July 2016. Accordingly, Southern Company's February 2016 guidance did not reflect any earnings contribution from these acquisitions or the financing costs related to the acquisitions. As a result, Southern Company believes presentation of earnings per share excluding these items provides investors with information comparable to the February guidance. Management also uses such measures to evaluate Southern Company's performance in 2016.
In addition to earnings and earnings per share calculated in accordance with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP), Southern Company intends to continue to present earnings and earnings per share excluding the impact of the Wholesale Gas Services business of Southern Company Gas in future periods. Presenting earnings and earnings per share excluding Wholesale Gas Services provides investors with an additional measure of operating performance that excludes volatility that results from mark-to-market and lower of weighted average cost or current market price accounting adjustments. Management also expects to use earnings and earnings per share excluding Wholesale Gas Services to evaluate Southern Company's performance. For the three and nine months ended September 30, 2016, the loss from Wholesale Gas Services and the related tax benefit were $18 million and $7 million, respectively.
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