Edison International’s Net Income Climbs 28%
Edison International said Monday that its first-quarter net income rose 28% but operating earnings fell short of Wall street expectations primarily because of a delayed rate increase for its Southern California Edison utility and an outage at a Midwest power plant.
Rosemead-based Edison International earned $258 million, or 78 cents a share, in the first quarter, up from $201 million, or 61 cents, in the same quarter last year.
The results included a $73-million distribution from a British power plant that Edison no longer owns.
But the company’s operating earnings, excluding the British plant distribution, discontinued operations and other items, fell to $184 million, or 56 cents a share, from $209 million, or 64 cents, a year earlier. On that basis, Edison earned 6 cents less per share than analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial had expected.
Revenue increased 13% to $2.75 billion from $2.45 billion a year earlier.
The company was hurt by problems at its Homer City Power Plant in Pennsylvania, which wasn’t operating during most of the quarter.
In addition, Southern California Edison was hit by higher costs as it awaited a ruling from the California Public Utilities Commission on its request for a $325-million rate increase, the company said.
The company said that it would wait for the ruling, which is scheduled for the commission’s Thursday meeting, before offering 2006 earnings guidance.
“That is a key item for Southern California Edison,” Edison Chief Executive John Bryson said during a conference call with analysts.
The utility is modernizing the Southern California power grid, investing in wind power and exploring the possibility of building a power plant fueled by hydrogen extracted from petroleum coke, a refinery byproduct, Bryson said.
Some analysts were upbeat, noting that the utility commission had decided to make any rate increase retroactive to Jan. 12.
“Whatever the shortfall was in the first quarter theoretically could be made up for in the second quarter and that depends on the substance of the [rate] order,” Jefferies & Co. analyst Paul Fremont said.
Edison shares fell 94 cents to $40.15.
Southern California Edison’s first-quarter earnings dropped to $121 million from $131 million in the same period last year.
Profit from Edison Mission Group, which includes unregulated power plants not owned by Southern California Edison, fell 4% to $73 million from $91 million, which included gains a year ago from investments in Eastern European telecommunications companies.
