Exhibit 99.01
News
[Southern Company Logo]
Contacts: Media: Marc Rice
404-506-5333 or 1-866-506-5333
media@southerncompany.com
www.southerncompany.com
Investors: Glen Kundert, 404-506-5135
July 26, 2005
Southern Company reports solid second quarter performance
ATLANTA - Southern Company today reported second quarter earnings of $387
million, or 52 cents per share. The results compared with earnings of $352
million, or 48 cents per share, in the second quarter a year ago.
Earnings for the first six months of this year were $710 million, or 95 cents
per share, compared with earnings of $683 million, or 93 cents per share, in the
same period a year ago.
Factors contributing positively to the earnings include continued economic
strength in the Southeast and customer growth, especially residential and
commercial. Offsetting the positive impacts was the weather, which was extremely
mild throughout the second quarter of 2005, with above average rainfall and
moderate temperatures.
"Our continued focus on execution of business plans, along with a strong economy
in the Southeast, contributed to a successful second quarter," said Chairman,
President and CEO David Ratcliffe. "Our performance was strong despite rising
oil and energy prices, and the second-mildest second-quarter weather we've seen
in our service territory in 15 years."
Second quarter revenues were $3.14 billion, compared with $3.01 billion in the
same period a year ago. Revenues for the first six months of this year were
$6.01 billion, compared with $5.74 billion in the first half of 2004.
In 2005, some Georgia Power industrial customers were reclassified from the
industrial class to the commercial class to be consistent with the rate
structure approved by the Georgia Public Service Commission. Adjusting the 2004
numbers for comparison purposes, kilowatt-hour sales to retail customers in
Southern Company's four-state service area decreased 1.8 percent in the second
quarter of this year, compared with the same period in 2004. Residential
electricity use decreased 5.2 percent. Electricity use by commercial customers
- -- offices, stores and other non-manufacturing firms - decreased 0.9 percent.
Industrial energy use increased 0.2 percent. As reported, without adjusting the
2004 kilowatt-hour sales, commercial sales for the second quarter of this year
are up 1.6 percent and industrial energy sales are down 2.0 percent.
Total sales of electricity to Southern Company's customers in the Southeast,
including wholesale sales, decreased 1.8 percent, compared with the second
quarter last year.
In conjunction with this earnings announcement, Southern Company has posted on
its Web site a package of detailed financial information on its second quarter
performance. These materials are available at 7:30 a.m. EDT July 26 at
www.southerncompany.com.
Southern Company's financial analyst call will be at 1 p.m. EDT July 26, at
which time Ratcliffe and Chief Financial Officer Tom Fanning will discuss
earnings and earnings guidance as well as provide a general business update.
Investors, media and the public may listen to a live Webcast of the call at
www.southerncompany.com. A replay of the Webcast will be available at the site
for 12 months.
With more than 4 million customers and nearly 39,000 megawatts of generating
capacity, Atlanta-based Southern Company (NYSE: SO) is the premier
super-regional energy company in the Southeast and a leading U.S. producer of
electricity. Southern Company owns electric utilities in four states, a growing
competitive generation company and a competitive retail natural gas business, as
well as fiber optics and wireless communications. Southern Company brands are
known for excellent customer service, high reliability and retail electric
prices that are 15 percent below the national average. Southern Company has been
ranked the nation's top energy utility in the American Customer Satisfaction
Index six years in a row. Southern Company has more than 500,000 shareholders,
making its common stock one of the most widely held in the United States. Visit
the Southern Company Web site at www.southerncompany.com.
Forward Looking Statements Note:
Certain information contained in this release is forward-looking information
based on current expectations and plans that involve risks and uncertainties.
Forward-looking information includes, among other things, statements concerning
results of operations, customer growth and Southern Company's strategies.
Southern Company cautions that there are certain factors that can cause actual
results to differ materially from the forward-looking information that has been
provided. The reader is cautioned not to put undue reliance on this
forward-looking information, which is not a guarantee of future performance and
is subject to a number of uncertainties and other factors, many of which are
outside the control of Southern Company; accordingly, there can be no assurance
that such suggested results will be realized.
The following factors, in addition to those discussed in Southern Company's
Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended Dec. 31, 2004, and subsequent
securities filings, could cause results to differ materially from management
expectations as suggested by such forward-looking information: the impact of
recent and future federal and state regulatory change, including legislative and
regulatory initiatives regarding deregulation and restructuring of the electric
utility industry, and also changes in environmental, tax and other laws and
regulations to which Southern Company and its subsidiaries are subject, as well
as changes in application of existing laws and regulations; current and future
litigation, regulatory investigations, proceedings or inquiries, including the
pending EPA civil actions against certain Southern Company subsidiaries, FERC
matters, IRS audits and Mirant-related matters; the effects, extent and timing
of the entry of additional competition in the markets in which Southern
Company's subsidiaries operate; variations in demand for electricity and gas,
including those relating to weather, the general economy and population and
business growth (and declines); available sources and costs of fuels; ability to
control costs; investment performance of Southern Company's employee benefit
plans; advances in technology; state and federal rate regulations and the impact
of pending and future rate cases and negotiations; the performance of projects
undertaken by the non-utility businesses and the success of efforts to invest in
and develop new opportunities; internal restructuring or other restructuring
options that may be pursued; potential business strategies, including
acquisitions or dispositions of assets or businesses, which cannot be assured to
be completed or beneficial to Southern Company or its subsidiaries; the ability
of counterparties of Southern Company and its subsidiaries to make payments as
and when due; the ability to obtain new short- and long-term contracts with
neighboring utilities; the direct or indirect effect on Southern Company's
business resulting from terrorist incidents and the threat of terrorist
incidents; interest rate fluctuations and financial market conditions and the
results of financing efforts, including Southern Company's and its subsidiaries'
credit ratings; the ability of Southern Company and its subsidiaries to obtain
additional generating capacity at competitive prices; catastrophic events such
as fires, earthquakes, floods, hurricanes or other similar occurrences; the
direct or indirect effects on Southern Company's business resulting from
incidents similar to the August 2003 power outage in the Northeast; and the
effect of accounting pronouncements issued periodically by standard-setting
bodies. Southern Company and its subsidiaries expressly disclaim any obligation
to update any forward-looking information.
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