Exhibit 99.1
Contact: Jeffrey R. Kotkin
Office: (860) 665-5154
NU REPORTS FIRST-QUARTER EARNINGS
BERLIN, Connecticut, April 22, 2003 - Northeast Utilities (NU-NYSE)
today reported first-quarter 2003 earnings of $60.2 million, or
$0.47 per share, compared with earnings of $18.6 million,
or $0.14 per share, in the first quarter of 2002.
Results for the first quarter of 2002 included write-offs totaling
$10 million, or $0.08 per share, primarily related to NU's investment
in NEON Communications, Inc. First-quarter 2003 results included no
similar write-offs.
Michael G. Morris, NU chairman, president and chief executive
officer, said the favorable comparison was driven primarily by
dramatically improved results at NU's competitive energy
businesses. Those businesses, which include Select Energy,
Inc., NU's competitive wholesale and retail energy marketing
subsidiary, earned $5.2 million in the first quarter of 2003,
compared with a loss of $20.1 million in the first quarter of 2002.
Select Energy's wholesale business, which includes 1,438 megawatts of
generation and a smaller energy trading function, earned nearly $7
million in the first quarter of 2003, compared with a loss of
approximately $6 million in the same period of 2002. The first-quarter
2002 results included approximately $10 million of after-tax energy
trading losses. Morris said both the wholesale and retail groups
benefited from improved management of Select's book of electric and
natural gas purchase and sale obligations.
First Quarter
2002 Reported EPS $0.14
Investment write-offs $0.08
2002 Adjusted EPS $0.22
Better regulated results $0.04
Reduced trading losses $0.08
Improved competitive results $0.12
Lower share count $0.01
2003 Reported EPS $0.47
"We are very pleased with the direction our competitive businesses
are heading and expect to record profits in all quarters this year,"
Morris said.
Overall, NU's regulated businesses had comparable performance in
the first quarter of 2003 and the same period of 2002. Much colder
weather resulted in an 8.9 percent increase in regulated retail
electric sales and an 18.3 percent increase in total regulated firm
natural gas sales in the first three months of 2003, compared with the
same period of 2002. Those gains were largely offset by lower pension
credits and the absence of earnings related to the Seabrook nuclear
power plant. The NU system sold its 40-percent share of Seabrook on
November 1, 2002.
Earnings at The Connecticut Light and Power Company totaled $25.3
million in the first quarter of 2003, compared with $20.3 million in
the same period of 2002. Earnings at Public Service Company of New
Hampshire were $10.8 million in the first quarter of 2003, compared
with $11.7 million in the first quarter of 2002. Yankee Energy System,
Inc. earned $15.1 million in the first quarter of 2003, compared
with $12.6 million in the first three months of 2002. Western
Massachusetts Electric Company earned $6.1 million in the first
quarter of 2003, compared with $6.9 million in the same period of 2002.
Morris said earnings per share also benefited from its ongoing
share repurchase program. NU repurchased approximately 1.6 million
shares in the first quarter of 2003 and had approximately 126.6 million
shares outstanding as of March 31, 2003. NU has board approval to
repurchase up to 5.5 million additional shares before July 1, 2003.
Morris said NU continues to project earnings of between $1.10 per
share and $1.30 per share in 2003. Those figures assume earnings of
between $1.05 per share and $1.15 per share at its regulated business
and between $0.15 per share and $0.25 per share at its competitive
businesses. NU also projects parent company debt and other expenses
of approximately $0.10 per share.
Northeast Utilities is a Fortune 500 diversified energy company
located in Connecticut with operations throughout the Northeast.
Through its competitive and regulated subsidiaries, NU provides Energy
for a Changing World, with a full range of products and services to
millions of residential and business customers from Maine to Maryland.
From delivering electricity and natural gas, to marketing energy
commodities, to operating and maintaining power plant facilities, NU
is committed to safety, reliability and expanding consumers' energy
options. For more information on Northeast Utilities and its
subsidiaries, visit the NU family of Web sites at www.nu.com.
This press release includes forward-looking statements within the
meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, which
are statements of future expectations and not facts. Actual results or
developments might differ materially from those included in the forward-
looking statements because of factors such as competition and industry
restructuring, changes in economic conditions, changes in weather
patterns, changes in laws, regulations or regulatory policies,
developments in legal or public policy doctrines, technological
developments, volatility in electric and natural gas commodity markets,
and other presently unknown or unforeseen factors. Other risk factors
are detailed from time to time in NU's reports to the Securities and
Exchange Commission.
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Note: NU will webcast an investor call this afternoon at 4:00 p.m.
Eastern Daylight Time. The call can be accessed through NU's website
at www.nu.com.