Aqua America Announces 15th Consecutive Year of Earnings Growth
Income from Continuing Operations up 5.4 Percent
"We are pleased to report our 15th consecutive year of
earnings growth. Net income per share, including the sale of the
company's
Net income for the year increased to
For the fourth quarter of 2014, income from continuing operations per
share increased 7.7 percent to
"On an ongoing basis, management continues to hone its focus on growing our customer base through acquisitions, earning a fair return on capital investments needed to address aging infrastructure, and maintaining our status as one of the nation's most efficient utilities."
In December, Aqua completed its sale of the
In 2014, Aqua maintained its status as one of the most efficient water
utilities in America. Despite starting 2014 with freezing temperatures
and a high number of main breaks during one of the coldest first
quarters in company history, operations and maintenance expenses for
continuing operations were
COMPANY HIGHLIGHTS IN 2014
-
Increased dividend 8.6 percent to an annualized rate of
$0.66 -
Internally funded entire capital investment program of
$329 million - Completed 16 regulated acquisitions in 7 states, supporting customer growth of 1.3 percent
-
Completed 16 rate cases along with ongoing surcharges, expected to
increase annualized revenues by
$11.7 million - Maintained Standard & Poor's (S&P) A+ rating for Aqua Pennsylvania
- Lowered weighted average cost of fixed-rate, long-term debt to 4.85 percent
- Repurchased shares as part of a buyback program to minimize shareholder dilution
- Delivered total shareholder return of 15.9 percent in 2014, compared to 13.7 percent for the S&P 500 Index.
On
In 2014, Aqua completed 16 acquisitions, including two municipal utility systems, in seven of the eight states where the company conducts regulated business. Customer growth from acquisitions and continued growth in new housing from the recession lows added 12,120 customers, an increase of 1.3 percent during 2014.
Aqua Pennsylvania's acquisition of the
Additionally, Aqua Resources, the company's non-regulated subsidiary,
completed two acquisitions of water and wastewater-related service
companies. Together, these acquisitions are expected to have combined
annual revenues of approximately
Aqua's capital investment in 2014 to enhance water quality and other
service reliability improvements for customers totaled
Aqua
In 2014, Aqua's state subsidiaries received a combined 16 rate awards or
infrastructure surcharges. Together, these awards are projected to
provide
In an effort to minimize equity dilution, Aqua repurchased 560,000
shares through a buyback program during 2014. To continue this
initiative of eliminating equity dilution, the Board of Directors, in
The company's conference call with financial analysts will take place on
This release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of
the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including, among
others: the company's continued ability to adapt itself for the future;
the continuation of the company's capital investment program; the
estimated amount of capital investment by the company planned for 2015,
2016 and 2017, and the projected impact of such investments; the
continuation of the company's growth-through-acquisition program; the
company's ability to acquire municipal and private water and wastewater
utilities; the estimated revenues from rate awards received; the
company's plans to file future rate increases and the timing of the
impact of such cases; the anticipated long-term performance of the
company's joint venture to provide water for the drilling in the
Marcellus shale; the company's ability to continue to deliver results;
the company's ability to fund needed infrastructure due to its financial
position; the company's continuation of investments in strategic
ventures; the company's ability to continue to deliver strong results
though the company's ability to grow its dividend and to grow earnings.
There are important factors that could cause actual results to differ
materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking
statements including: general economic business conditions; housing and
customer growth trends; unfavorable weather conditions; the success of
certain cost containment initiatives; the extent to which rate increase
requests are granted and the timing of rate awards; changes in
regulations or regulatory treatment; availability and access to capital;
the cost of capital; disruptions in the credit markets; the success of
growth initiatives; and other factors discussed in our Annual Report on
Form 10-K, which is on file with the
The company's results stated here are unaudited. The final audited
financial statements will be filed with the company's annual report on
Form 10-K. The following table shows selected operating data for the
quarter and year ended
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| Selected Operating Data | ||||||||||||
| (In thousands, except per share amounts) | ||||||||||||
| (Unaudited) | ||||||||||||
| Quarter Ended | Year Ended | |||||||||||
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|
2014 |
2013 |
2014 |
2013 |
|||||||||
| Operating revenues | $ | 191,389 | $ | 187,078 | $ | 779,903 | $ | 761,893 | ||||
| Income from continuing operations | $ | 48,954 | $ | 46,254 | $ | 213,884 | $ | 202,871 | ||||
| Net income attributable to common shareholders | $ | 66,815 | $ | 57,532 | $ | 233,239 | $ | 221,300 | ||||
| Basic income from continuing operations per common share | $ | 0.28 | $ | 0.26 | $ | 1.21 | $ | 1.15 | ||||
| Diluted income from continuing operations per common share | $ | 0.28 | $ | 0.26 | $ | 1.20 | $ | 1.15 | ||||
| Basic net income per common share | $ | 0.38 | $ | 0.33 | $ | 1.32 | $ | 1.26 | ||||
| Diluted net income per common share | $ | 0.38 | $ | 0.32 | $ | 1.31 | $ | 1.25 | ||||
| Basic average common shares outstanding | 176,660 | 176,660 | 176,864 | 176,140 | ||||||||
| Diluted average common shares outstanding | 177,651 | 177,733 | 177,763 | 176,814 | ||||||||
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| Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets | ||||||
| (In thousands of dollars) | ||||||
| (Unaudited) | ||||||
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|
2014 |
2013 |
|||||
| Net property, plant and equipment | $ | 4,401,990 | $ | 4,138,568 | ||
| Current assets | 152,522 | 200,854 | ||||
| Regulatory assets and other assets | 852,240 | 712,395 | ||||
| Total assets | $ | 5,406,752 | $ | 5,051,817 | ||
| Total equity | $ | 1,655,383 | $ | 1,535,043 | ||
| Long-term debt, excluding current portion | 1,560,655 | 1,468,583 | ||||
| Current portion of long-term debt and loans payable | 77,013 | 123,028 | ||||
| Other current liabilities | 148,322 | 156,851 | ||||
| Deferred credits and other liabilities | 1,965,379 | 1,768,312 | ||||
| Total liabilities and equity | $ | 5,406,752 | $ | 5,051,817 | ||
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| Consolidated Statement of Income | ||||||||||||
| (In thousands, except per share amounts) | ||||||||||||
| (Unaudited) | ||||||||||||
| Quarter Ended | Year Ended | |||||||||||
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|
2014 |
2013 |
2014 |
2013 |
|||||||||
| Operating revenues | $ | 191,389 | $ | 187,078 | $ | 779,903 | $ | 761,893 | ||||
| Cost & expenses: | ||||||||||||
| Operations and maintenance | 74,121 | 73,724 | 288,556 | 283,561 | ||||||||
| Depreciation | 31,365 | 30,078 | 123,054 | 118,414 | ||||||||
| Amortization | 796 | 1,641 | 3,481 | 5,571 | ||||||||
| Taxes other than income taxes | 12,510 | 12,801 | 50,453 | 52,685 | ||||||||
| Total | 118,792 | 118,244 | 465,544 | 460,231 | ||||||||
| Operating income | 72,597 | 68,834 | 314,359 | 301,662 | ||||||||
| Other expense (income): | ||||||||||||
| Interest expense, net | 19,004 | 19,482 | 76,397 | 77,316 | ||||||||
| Allowance for funds used during construction | (1,835) | (806) | (5,134) | (2,275) | ||||||||
| (Gain) loss on sale of other assets | (129) | (27) | 4 | (148) | ||||||||
| Equity loss in joint venture | 1,316 | 933 | 3,989 | 2,665 | ||||||||
| Income from continuing operations before income taxes | 54,241 | 49,252 | 239,103 | 224,104 | ||||||||
| Provision for income taxes | 5,287 | 2,998 | 25,219 | 21,233 | ||||||||
| Income from continuing operations | 48,954 | 46,254 | 213,884 | 202,871 | ||||||||
| Discontinued operations: | ||||||||||||
| Income from discontinued operations before income taxes | 29,658 | 17,010 | 32,155 | 28,311 | ||||||||
| Provision for income taxes | 11,797 | 5,732 | 12,800 | 9,882 | ||||||||
| Income from discontinued operations | 17,861 | 11,278 | 19,355 | 18,429 | ||||||||
| Net income attributable to common shareholders | $ | 66,815 |
$ |
57,532 |
$ | 233,239 | $ | 221,300 | ||||
| Income from continuing operations per share: | ||||||||||||
| Basic | $ | 0.28 | $ | 0.26 | $ | 1.21 | $ | 1.15 | ||||
| Diluted | $ | 0.28 | $ | 0.26 | $ | 1.20 | $ | 1.15 | ||||
| Income from discontinued operations per share: | ||||||||||||
| Basic | $ | 0.10 | $ | 0.06 | $ | 0.11 | $ | 0.10 | ||||
| Diluted | $ | 0.10 | $ | 0.06 | $ | 0.11 | $ | 0.10 | ||||
| Net income per common share: | ||||||||||||
| Basic | $ | 0.38 | $ | 0.33 | $ | 1.32 | $ | 1.26 | ||||
| Diluted | $ | 0.38 | $ | 0.32 | $ | 1.31 | $ | 1.25 | ||||
| Average common shares outstanding: | ||||||||||||
| Basic | 176,660 | 176,660 | 176,864 | 176,140 | ||||||||
| Diluted | 177,651 | 177,733 | 177,763 | 176,814 | ||||||||
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| Reconciliation of GAAP to Non-GAAP financial measures for continuing operations | |||
| (in thousands of dollars) | |||
|
(GAAP refers to accounting principles generally accepted in |
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| (Unaudited) | |||
| Regulated segment - Efficiency Ratio adjusted for Purchased Water | |||
|
Year ended |
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| 2014 | |||
| Operating revenues (GAAP financial measure) | $ | 756,057 | |
| Purchased Water | 19,251 | ||
| Adjusted operating revenues (Non-GAAP financial measure) | $ | 736,806 | |
| Operations and maintenance expense (GAAP financial measure) | $ | 274,754 | |
| Purchased Water | 19,251 | ||
| Adjusted operations and maintenance expense (Non-GAAP financial measure) | $ | 255,503 | |
| Regulated segment efficiency ratio (GAAP financial measure) | 36.3% | ||
|
Regulated segment efficiency ratio adjusted for Purchased Water (Non-GAAP financial measure) |
34.7% | ||
Reconciliation of GAAP to Non-GAAP financial measures - The Company is providing disclosure of the reconciliation of these non-GAAP financial measures to the most comparable GAAP financial measures. The Company believes that the non-GAAP financial measures provide investors the ability to measure the Company's financial operating performance by adjustment, which is more indicative of the Company's ongoing performance and is more comparable to measures reported by other companies.
Regulated segment - Efficiency Ratio is adjusted for Purchased Water. Information referring to "Purchased Water" refers to expense related to cost of water purchased from other non-affiliated utilities. This "Purchased Water" expense amount is deducted from the operating revenues amount and the operations and maintenance expense amount to calculate the efficiency ratio adjusted for Purchased Water.
These financial measures are measures of the Company's operating
performance that do not comply with U.S. generally accepted accounting
principles (GAAP), and are thus considered to be "non-GAAP financial
measures" under applicable
WTRF
BJDingerdissen@AquaAmerica.com
or
Mobile: 484-368-4720
DPAlston@AquaAmerica.com
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