bruce_oneal Posted March 2, 2005 Share Posted March 2, 2005 harbinger of things to come...? we all knew that it was a matter of time before the rising cost of fuel was gonna have an impact. reliant, one of the largest energy suppliers in the region (and certainly houston) has taken a loss for the year. this is on top of their $1.3B loss a year ago.who's next? what's next? i am not financial expert, but a company can't keep losing money year after year... can it?*******March 2, 2005, 4:16PMReliant Energy falls to loss on rising fuelDow Jones / Associated Press Power-plant operator Reliant Energy Inc. said today it fell to a loss for its latest quarter as higher expenses for fuel and purchased power hurt profit margins.ADVERTISEMENTThe loss for the fourth quarter was $264.4 million, or 88 cents a share, compared with a profit of $32.5 million, or 11 cents a share, a year ago.On a continuing operations basis, the company posted a deeper loss, to $188 million, or 63 cents a share, from $25 million, or 8 cents a share, a year ago. On an adjusted basis, the loss was $81 million, or 27 cents a share, for the quarter.Analysts surveyed by Thomson First Call had forecast a loss of 3 cents per share in the latest quarter.Revenue for the latest quarter climbed 19 percent to $2.1 billion from $1.78 billion.Expense for fuel and cost of gas sold rose 54 percent to $468.3 million, while purchased power expense rose 54 percent to $1.38 billion.For the full year, Houston-based Reliant posted a loss of $29.4 million, or 10 cents a share, narrower than a loss of $1.34 billion, or $4.57 a share, a year earlier.Adjusted earnings from continuing operations, which exclude a number of unusual items, amounted to 7 cents a share for the year, well below the 25 cents a share Reliant had forecast in November and which was also projected by a survey of analysts by Thomson First Call.The company said the difference was due to two unexpected expenses -- a charge of 13 cents a share for a refinancing and a charge of 3 cents a share for a regulatory settlement, which were both included in the adjusted earnings number. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Subdude Posted March 5, 2005 Share Posted March 5, 2005 who's next? what's next? i am not financial expert, but a company can't keep losing money year after year... can it?Reliant has quite a track record for piling up large unexpected losses. They were able to refinance their debt last year, and with their rate base they won't be going out of business anytime soon. It is strange that they have such a large market share when they are generally the highest-priced local electricity provider. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Talbot Posted March 9, 2005 Share Posted March 9, 2005 I guess that's why they charge the crazy amounts of money they do for electricity.I hope that somehow, the company can stop all their losses. I'd hate to see the company go. Although I doubt we'd see that for a while. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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