Aqua America Reports Earnings Growth for the Third Quarter of 2014
Earnings per share from continuing operations increased 9 percent
Operating revenues in the quarter increased 4 percent to
On
"Aqua's third quarter performance is a testament to management's ability
to deliver customer growth through acquisitions, persistence in
remaining one of the most cost-effective utilities in the nation, and
Aqua's ability to earn a fair return on capital investments required to
address the nation's infrastructure needs, which allows us to provide
reliable water and wastewater services to the nearly 3 million people we
serve," said
Year to date, Aqua has completed 13 acquisitions in
In September, Aqua Texas completed a
Aqua
In October, Aqua's
"Aqua's increased acquisition activity shows the value we bring to the water utility industry. Our expertise and financial strength will provide future customers with top-tier service and substantial investment in their communities," said DeBenedictis. "Our business development pipeline remains promising, both in our regulated and non-regulated business lines."
As part of the growth in the non-regulated business, the company's Aqua
In
In the third quarter of 2014, operations and maintenance expenses were
At the end of the third quarter, Aqua's capital program invested more
than
To date in 2014, Aqua America's regulated subsidiaries have received
rate awards or infrastructure surcharges in all eight states (including
wastewater in
In September, Standard & Poor's reaffirmed its A+ credit rating for Aqua
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: management's long-term vision and strategic initiatives to grow
the company's customer base, remain one of the most efficient utilities
and earn a fair return on capital investments required to address the
nation's infrastructure needs; the ability to provide reliable water and
wastewater services; the continuation of the company's
growth-through-acquisition program and the anticipated pace of customer
growth; the opportunity to invest significant capital to provide
top-tier service to customers and investment in their communities; the
company's efforts to successfully manage rising costs and to remain a
leader within our industry with respect to controlling expenses, which
has the potential to save Aqua customers millions of dollars; the
estimated amount of capital investment by the company planned for 2014
and the next three years, and the projected impact of such investments;
the company's ability to fund its capital investments internally; and
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.
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; the company's ability to remain an industry leader
in operational efficiency, the continuation of the company's
growth-through-acquisition program; the company's ability to provide
reliable service at a reasonable cost, the ability to successfully
integrate all of the Company's acquisitions; and other factors discussed
in our Annual Report on Form 10-K, which is on file with the
WTRF
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| Selected Operating Data | ||||||||||||
| (In thousands, except per share amounts) | ||||||||||||
| (Unaudited) | ||||||||||||
| Quarter Ended | Nine Months Ended | |||||||||||
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2014 |
2013 |
2014 |
2013 |
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| Operating revenues | $ | 210,535 | $ | 202,320 | $ | 588,514 | $ | 574,815 | ||||
| Income from continuing operations | $ | 67,711 | $ | 62,749 | $ | 164,930 | $ | 156,617 | ||||
| Net income attributable to common shareholders | $ | 67,996 | $ | 63,617 | $ | 166,424 | $ | 163,768 | ||||
| Basic income from continuing operations per common share | $ | 0.38 | $ | 0.36 | $ | 0.93 | $ | 0.89 | ||||
| Diluted income from continuing operations per common share | $ | 0.38 | $ | 0.35 | $ | 0.93 | $ | 0.89 | ||||
| Basic net income per common share | $ | 0.38 | $ | 0.36 | $ | 0.94 | $ | 0.93 | ||||
| Diluted net income per common share | $ | 0.38 | $ | 0.36 | $ | 0.94 | $ | 0.93 | ||||
| Basic average common shares outstanding | 176,900 | 176,483 | 176,933 | 175,964 | ||||||||
| Diluted average common shares outstanding | 177,908 | 177,575 | 177,872 | 176,732 | ||||||||
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| Consolidated Statement of Income | ||||||||||||
| (In thousands, except per share amounts) | ||||||||||||
| (Unaudited) | ||||||||||||
| Quarter Ended | Nine Months Ended | |||||||||||
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2014 |
2013 |
2014 |
2013 |
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| Operating revenues | $ | 210,535 | $ | 202,320 | $ | 588,514 | $ | 574,815 | ||||
| Cost & expenses: | ||||||||||||
| Operations and maintenance | 72,374 | 71,631 | 214,435 | 209,837 | ||||||||
| Depreciation | 29,482 | 29,980 | 91,689 | 88,336 | ||||||||
| Amortization | 806 | 1,185 | 2,685 | 3,930 | ||||||||
| Taxes other than income taxes | 12,815 | 13,384 | 37,943 | 39,884 | ||||||||
| Total | 115,477 | 116,180 | 346,752 | 341,987 | ||||||||
| Operating income | 95,058 | 86,140 | 241,762 | 232,828 | ||||||||
| Other expense (income): | ||||||||||||
| Interest expense, net | 18,990 | 19,350 | 57,393 | 57,833 | ||||||||
| Allowance for funds used during construction | (1,195) | (426) | (3,299) | (1,468) | ||||||||
| (Gain) loss on sale of other assets | (75) | (138) | 133 | (121) | ||||||||
| Equity loss in joint venture | 736 | (78) | 2,673 | 1,732 | ||||||||
| Income from continuing operations before income taxes | 76,602 | 67,432 | 184,862 | 174,852 | ||||||||
| Provision for income taxes | 8,891 | 4,683 | 19,932 | 18,235 | ||||||||
| Income from continuing operations | 67,711 | 62,749 | 164,930 | 156,617 | ||||||||
| Discontinued operations: | ||||||||||||
| Income from discontinued operations before income taxes | 472 | 1,433 | 2,497 | 11,301 | ||||||||
| Provision for income taxes | 187 | 565 | 1,003 | 4,150 | ||||||||
| Income from discontinued operations | 285 | 868 | 1,494 | 7,151 | ||||||||
| Net income attributable to common shareholders | $ | 67,996 | $ | 63,617 | $ | 166,424 | $ | 163,768 | ||||
| Income from continuing operations per share: | ||||||||||||
| Basic | $ | 0.38 | $ | 0.36 | $ | 0.93 | $ | 0.89 | ||||
| Diluted | $ | 0.38 | $ | 0.35 | $ | 0.93 | $ | 0.89 | ||||
| Income from discontinued operations per share: | ||||||||||||
| Basic | $ | 0.00 | $ | 0.00 | $ | 0.01 | $ | 0.04 | ||||
| Diluted | $ | 0.00 | $ | 0.00 | $ | 0.01 | $ | 0.04 | ||||
| Net income per common share: | ||||||||||||
| Basic | $ | 0.38 | $ | 0.36 | $ | 0.94 | $ | 0.93 | ||||
| Diluted | $ | 0.38 | $ | 0.36 | $ | 0.94 | $ | 0.93 | ||||
| Average common shares outstanding: | ||||||||||||
| Basic | 176,900 | 176,483 | 176,933 | 175,964 | ||||||||
| Diluted | 177,908 | 177,575 | 177,872 | 176,732 | ||||||||
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| Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets | ||||||
| (In thousands of dollars) | ||||||
| (Unaudited) | ||||||
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2014 |
2013 |
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| Net property, plant and equipment | $ | 4,313,815 | $ | 4,138,568 | ||
| Current assets | 207,521 | 200,854 | ||||
| Regulatory assets and other assets | 785,845 | 712,395 | ||||
| Total assets | $ | 5,307,181 | $ | 5,051,817 | ||
| Total equity | $ | 1,615,360 | $ | 1,535,043 | ||
| Long-term debt, excluding current portion | 1,560,426 | 1,468,583 | ||||
| Current portion of long-term debt and loans payable | 93,577 | 123,028 | ||||
| Other current liabilities | 141,815 | 156,851 | ||||
| Deferred credits and other liabilities | 1,896,003 | 1,768,312 | ||||
| Total liabilities and equity | $ | 5,307,181 | $ | 5,051,817 | ||
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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 | Trailing twelve | ||
| months ended | |||
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| 2014 | |||
| Operating revenues (GAAP financial measure) | $ | 753,672 | |
| Purchased Water | 19,026 | ||
| Adjusted operating revenues (Non-GAAP financial measure) | $ | 734,646 | |
| Operations and maintenance expense (GAAP financial measure) | $ | 273,454 | |
| Purchased Water | 19,026 | ||
| Adjusted operations and maintenance expense (Non-GAAP financial measure) | $ | 254,428 | |
| Regulated segment efficiency ratio (GAAP financial measure) | 36.3% | ||
|
Regulated segment efficiency ratio adjusted for Purchased Water (Non-GAAP financial measure) |
34.6% | ||
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. The Company further believes that the presentation of these non-GAAP financial measures is useful to investors as a more meaningful way to compare the Company's operating performance against its historical financial results.
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
Director, Investor
Relations
O: 610-645-1191
BJDingerdissen@AquaAmerica.com
or
Manager, Communications
O: 610-645-1095
M:
484-368-4720
DPAlston@AquaAmerica.com
Source:
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