|
|
Enron Mail |
Public Service Says 1st-Qtr Profit Fell 5.9 Percent (Update2)
Bloomberg, 04/17/01 Enron Bandwidth Unit Reports Loss For First Quarter Dow Jones Energy Service, 04/17/01 USA: Enron CEO uses naughty word on conference call. Reuters English News Service, 04/17/01 Enron, Dynegy post healthy profit gains on energy demand Associated Press Newswires, 04/17/01 USA: Enron Broadband posts expected loss amid mixed growth. Reuters English News Service, 04/17/01 WSJ.COM WRAP: Enron, Dynegy Post Immpressive Results Dow Jones News Service, 04/17/01 Action on energy trading floors reverberate in power-hungry California Associated Press Newswires, 04/17/01 Energy Trading-Floor Gambits Perturb Power-Hungry US West Dow Jones Energy Service, 04/17/01 High demand for power behind Enron's increased earnings Associated Press Newswires, 04/17/01 Enron CEO: Earnings Target Up By A Nickel CNNfn: Market Coverage - Morning, 04/17/01 Enron Corp. Says First-Quarter Profit Rose 20 Percent (Update6) Bloomberg, 04/17/01 Dynegy's 1st-Qtr Profit Rises 73% on Gas, Power Sales (Update4) Bloomberg, 04/17/01 Red Herring 100 Celebrates Top Companies Reshaping Business PR Newswire, 04/17/01 Enron Says PG&E Owes About $570 Million, CNBC Says (Update1) Bloomberg, 04/17/01 Public Service Says 1st-Qtr Profit Fell 5.9 Percent (Update2) 2001-04-17 17:25 (New York) Public Service Says 1st-Qtr Profit Fell 5.9 Percent (Update2) (Updates with profit from operations in second paragraph and possible expansion in California in second section. For more on the California electricity crisis, see {EXTRA <GO<}.) Newark, New Jersey, April 17 (Bloomberg) -- Public Service Enterprise Group Inc., owner of New Jersey's largest utility, said first-quarter profit fell 5.9 percent because of a rate cut and higher fuel costs. Profit from operations fell to $254 million, or $1.22 a share, from net income of $270 million, or $1.25, a year earlier, spokesman Paul Rosengren said. Revenue rose 13 percent to $2.81 billion from $2.48 billion. The company has been trying to expand outside New Jersey as the state opens its energy markets to competition. Talks to buy Cinergy Corp., owner of Cincinnati's utility, for about $5.6 billion fell apart in March, possibly because it offered only a slight premium, according to newspaper reports. The company's Public Service Electric & Gas utility has 3.5 million New Jersey customers. Utility profit fell 11 percent because of a 2 percent power-rate cut and costs to refinance debt, the Newark, New Jersey-based company said. Profit at PSEG Power, the company's U.S. trading and power- generation unit, fell 19 percent because of higher fuel costs and interest expenses. Public Service uses natural gas to fuel some of its power plants. Gas prices more than doubled from a year ago. A $2 million charge for a debt payment and a $9 million gain from an accounting change made net income $261 million, or $1.25 a share, the company said. Public Service had 208 million shares outstanding in the latest quarter. It had 216 million shares outstanding a year earlier. Operating profit of PSEG Energy Holdings, which includes international business, rose 88 percent. Public Service expects to have 3.7 million customers outside the U.S. after some acquisitions are complete, the company said. California Public Service is talking with California officials about expanding six power plants in the state, Rosengren said. The plants, owned 50 percent by Public Service, generate enough power for 150,000 U.S. homes and might be ``substantially enlarged'' with turbines Public Service has on order, provided the state confirms payment for power, he said. He declined to provide details on the size of the expansion. Shares of Public Service rose 90 cents to $46.08. They have fallen 5.2 percent this year. Enron Bandwidth Unit Reports Loss For First Quarter 04/17/2001 Dow Jones Energy Service (Copyright © 2001, Dow Jones & Company, Inc.) HOUSTON -(Dow Jones)- Enron Broadband Services was the only one of Enron Corp.'s (ENE) business sectors to report a loss for the first quarter of 2001, company executives said in a conference call with analysts Tuesday. Before interest and taxes, Enron reported a loss for Broadband Services of $35 million for the first quarter of this year compared to a break-even quarter a year ago. "Only one sector is down from what we expected and that's broadband," Enron President and Chief Executive Jeff Skilling told investors. "The other sectors are up, significantly up." Enron Corp. reported earnings of $405 million on revenues of $50.1 billion for the first quarter of 2001. The per-diluted share earnings were 49 cents, compared with 40 cents in the year-ago period. Company executives also revised upward their per-share earnings goal for 2001 from $1.73 to the $1.75-$1.80 range. The Broadband Services loss came on $83 million in revenues compared to $59 million last year. The total value of contracts for the first quarter 2001 was $45 million, compared with $31 million in the first quarter 2000. Broadband Services delivered 43,400 terabytes of capacity in the first quarter 2001, up from 6,005 terabytes a year ago. For all of last year, the company delivered a total of 72,406 terabytes of bandwidth. Skilling said the company has contracts to deliver 40% of its goal of 570,000 terabytes this year. "We're making excellent progress in creating a commodities market," he said. Broadband Services did a total of 580 transactions in the first quarter of 2001, double the 236 transactions it did in the fourth quarter of last year. In all of 2000, the company did 321 trades. In the first quarter, Enron added 70 new customers, bringing its total up to 120, Skilling said. He added that 70% of those customers are carriers or network service providers. Skilling said he is disappointed with the slow growth of the long-term deal origination segment of the bandwidth operation. "We face one big issue in this market, the counterparties have no credit capacity," he said. The Broadband Services loss wasn't due to increased costs of seeking video-on-demand partners to replace Blockbuster Inc. (BBI). Enron and Blockbuster canceled an exclusive agreement to distribute movies via the Internet in the first quarter. Enron will seek to make deals with motion picture companies directly. The biggest snag in making those deals are Hollywood's desires. "They want to keep as much of the money as they can," said Ken Rice, chairman and chief executive of Broadband Services. -By Erwin Seba, Dow Jones Newswires, 713-547-9214 erwin.seba@dowjones.com Copyright , 2000 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. USA: Enron CEO uses naughty word on conference call. 04/17/2001 Reuters English News Service (C) Reuters Limited 2001. (Editors note language) By C. Bryson Hull HOUSTON, April 17 (Reuters) - Enron Corp.'s top executive Tuesday publicly fired off the same vulgarity that brought President George W. Bush embarrassing headlines when he unwittingly uttered it in front of an open microphone last fall. But unlike Bush, Enron President and Chief Executive Officer Jeff Skilling says he knew the microphone was on when he called a fund manager an "asshole" during a conference call to discuss first-quarter earnings with analysts. Bush made headlines on the campaign trail last year when he remarked to Vice President Dick Cheney that a New York Times reporter was a "major-league asshole," not knowing that a microphone had picked up his remark. Skilling laid down the insult after an exchange with Richard Grubman, managing director of Highfields Capital Management in Boston, who asked to see Enron's balance sheet and was told it would not be available until its inclusion in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing later this month. "You're the only financial institution that can't come up with balance sheet or cash flow statement after earnings," Grubman grumbled. "Well, thank you very much, we appreciate that. Asshole," Skilling responded with a laugh. Skilling, whose candor frequently gives his public relations staff fits, told Reuters in a telephone interview that he knew the microphone was on. "The specific fellow that I was not real happy with is a shortseller in the market. I don't think it is fair to our shareholders to give someone a platform like that they are using for some personal vested interest related to their stock position," Skilling told Reuters in an interview. "I get a little exasperated with that sort of thing, and I want people to know I am exasperated," he said. Grubman said he felt "pretty thin-skinned" about the remark. He disputed Enron's assertion the balance sheets and cash flow statements were not ready yet, particularly in light of Skilling's mention during the call that Enron reconciles its credit risks and trading book daily. "I'm sort of at a loss as to why that was such an objectionable question," Grubman said, adding: "He's got some nerve. He and his management team sold 7 million shares into the market last year, so he's plugged the market for a half a billion dollars worth of stock valued in the $70s and $80s. "Now the stock is the high $50s-low $60s and I'm an asshole because I ask about the balance sheet?" Copyright , 2000 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Enron, Dynegy post healthy profit gains on energy demand By The Associated Press 04/17/2001 Associated Press Newswires Copyright 2001. The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. Energy wholesalers Dynegy Inc. and Enron Corp. posted healthy profit gains Tuesday, beating Wall Street's expectations, as demand for electricity and natural gas surged during the first quarter. Both companies saw revenues jump as well, with Enron's sales coming in nearly four times that of the previous quarter. Carol Coale, an analyst with Prudential Securities Inc. in Houston, said Enron's results were no surprise because of increased demand for power and gas in power-strapped California and across the country. "Clearly the California energy crisis has raised the bar on those power and gas trading and marketing profits," she said. "Opportunities have existed outside California as well." Meanwhile, Dynegy, a major power generator in California, said it was being "unfairly and inaccurately" accused of withholding power from the state's power market. It said that sales there "did not make a material contribution" to first-quarter results. Enron Corp. Houston-based Enron, the world's top buyer and seller of natural gas and electricity, said Tuesday that it earned $425 million, or 49 cents per share, in the three months ended March 31, compared with $338 million, or 40 cents per share in the year-ago period. This year's results include a $19 million, or 2 cents per share gain, due to the adoption of new accounting standards; excluding the item, Enron earned $406 million, or 47 cents per share. The result beat comparable expectations of analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial/First Call, who predicted earnings of 45 cents per share. First-quarter revenues nearly quadrupled to $50.1 billion, compared to revenues of $13.1 billion in the first three months of 2000. Enron also increased its 2001 overall earnings prediction to $1.75 to $1.80 per share. Previously, the company said it expected 2001 earnings of $1.70 and $1.75 per share, and the consensus of analysts was for $1.74 per share. "Enron's wholesale business continues to generate outstanding results. Transaction and volume growth are translating into increased profitability," said Jeff Skilling, president and CEO of Enron. The company attributed the increase to continued growth in its wholesale energy-trading business, acceleration in its retail energy services and in its broadband Internet business. In its wholesale business, Enron resells power and gas to utilities and other large customers. That business accounted for 96 percent of its first-quarter revenues. Shares of Enron rose $1.04 to $60.48 in trading Tuesday on the New York Stock Exchange. Dynegy Inc. The Houston-based energy marketer said Tuesday it earned $139.5 million, or 41 cents a share, in the first three months of 2001, more than double that from first-quarter 2000 earnings of $69 million, or 26 cents per share. Analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial/First Call expected Dynegy's first-quarter earnings to be 40 cents a share. The results include a $2 million gain for an accounting change, which did not affect the per-share figure. Revenues for the first three months of the year were $14.2 billion, nearly triple the $5.3 billion reported in the same period a year ago. Dynegy chairman and chief executive officer Chuck Watson attributed the increase to cold weather demands in northern states, not the California power shortage. In a statement following the release of the earnings, president and chief operating officer Steve Bergstrom defended the company, saying it had been "unfairly and inaccurately accused of withholding power from the California market." "As we have repeatedly communicated to California policy-makers and regulators and to industry officials, we remain ready and willing to generate and sell power to any and all buyers, at fair and reasonable prices, when they are able to provide appropriate assurances that they will fulfill their obligation to pay for those purchases, Bergstrom said. Dynegy said it has softened nearly all of its prospective credit exposure in the California market through an agreement with the California Department of Water Resources to provide the state with up to 2,300 megawatts of electricity through 2004. Shares of Dynegy rose $2.17 to $55.32 in trading on the NYSE. --- On the Net: http://www.enron.com http://www.dynegy.com Copyright , 2000 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. USA: Enron Broadband posts expected loss amid mixed growth. By C. Bryson Hull 04/17/2001 Reuters English News Service (C) Reuters Limited 2001. HOUSTON, April 17 (Reuters) - Enron Corp.'s nascent broadband Internet division posted an expected quarterly loss on Tuesday amid a weak telecommunications market and mixed growth in the Houston energy giant's flashiest unit. Enron Broadband Services reported a loss of $35 million on $83 million in revenue, compared with a break-even first quarter in 2000, when it had $59 million in revenues. Enron has consistently said it did not expect its broadband arm to record a profit until 2002 and instead has offered other measures of growth by which to benchmark the unit's progress. The broadband unit encompasses two distinct segments: the bandwidth intermediation business, which turns Internet bandwidth into a tradeable commodity; and the content services division, which engages in sales and transmission of Internet content. The bandwidth trading unit recorded 580 transactions in the first quarter of 2001, compared with 321 in all of last year. It delivered 43,400 terabytes - a unit equal to one trillion bytes - in the first quarter, compared with 6,000 in the similar year-ago period, a more than sixfold increase. But Enron President and Chief Executive Jeff Skilling said he was disappointed with the rate at which Enron is signing large, structured bandwidth contracts, which he said are a casualty of the low credit capacity of potential counterparties. "If you look at most of the large telecom companies right now, you would be hard-pressed to assume they could perform on a contract that is anything more than six months to a year long," Skilling said. Enron's bread-and butter, developed in the natural gas business, is creating long-term commodity deals that are geared to combat price volatility for its customers. Skilling said Enron is looking at ways to use the inherent credit of telecommunication companies' assets to finance the deals, much as Enron did with credit-poor natural gas companies in the mid-1980s. "This is going to come a little slower than what we expected," he acknowledged. The content services unit had suffered some setbacks during the first quarter, including the premature dissolution of its marquee 20-year video on demand deal with Blockbuster Inc. EBS also trimmed 20 percent of its staff last month, moving them out of the unit and into other parts of the parent company. "The losses in bandwidth have nothing to do with Blockbuster," Skilling told investors. Rather, the changes came as a result of Enron slashing $500 million off the $750 million it had set aside to build its network. The weak telecom market means a long bandwidth supply and an easy way for Enron to secure contractual access to bandwidth at low prices, Skilling has said. Copyright , 2000 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. WSJ.COM WRAP: Enron, Dynegy Post Immpressive Results 04/17/2001 Dow Jones News Service (Copyright © 2001, Dow Jones & Company, Inc.) A WSJ.COM News Roundup HOUSTON -(Dow Jones)- Electricity suppliers Enron Corp. (ENE) and Dynegy Inc. (DYN) posted strong first-quarter results as their wholesaling and trading businesses thrived in a market roiled by California's energy crisis. Enron on Tuesday reported net income that rose 26% to $425 million, or 49 cents a diluted share, compared with net income of $338 million, or 40 cents a share, a year earlier. Results in the latest quarter include a gain related to the required adoption of new accounting standards. Excluding the gain, the company earned $406 million, or 47 cents a share, two cents better than the estimate from analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial/First Call. Revenue in the quarter surged to $50.13 billion from $13.15 billion a year earlier. The energy giant also boosted its earnings outlook for 2001 to $1.75 to $1.80 a share. As recently as March 23, the company said it expected to earn $1.70 to $1.75 a share. The current consensus estimate of analysts is $1.75 a share for 2001. "Enron's wholesale business continues to generate outstanding results. Transaction and volume growth are translating into increased profitability," Jeff Skilling, Enron's president and chief executive, said in a prepared statement. "In addition, our retail energy services and broadband intermediation activities are rapidly accelerating." The company's wholesale-services operations reported a 76% increase in income before interest, minority interests and taxes, or IBIT, to $755 million, led by growth in its natural-gas and power businesses. In addition, Enron's new wholesale commodity businesses, including coal, steel and forest products, contributed to the quarter's strong results. Enron's assets and investments unit posted a 73% drop in IBIT to $59 million because of lower earnings from merchant investments and related assets. Enron said IBIT at its retail energy services group surged to $40 million from $6 million a year earlier, amid a 60% increase in contracting in the period. The company said its new long-term energy-management customers include Owens-Illinois Inc., Quaker Oats Co., Eli Lilly & Co., J.C. Penney Co. and Saks Inc. The transportation-services unit reported IBIT that inched up 3.9% to $133 million, amid strong demand for natural-gas pipeline services. Its Portland General Electric investor-owned utility posted a 43% drop in IBIT to $60 million, which reflects higher power costs, reduced investment income and the effect of certain regulatory events. Enron's broadband-services operations reported a $35 million loss before interest, minority interests and taxes for the quarter. The company said it added 70 new broadband customers this quarter for a total of 120 customers. Unlike beleaguered utilities such as PG&E Corp.'s Pacific Gas & Electric Co. and Edison International's Southern California Edison Co., Enron's Portland General has benefited from the power crisis in California, where a botched utility-deregulation plan combined with general power shortages have driven average wholesale prices 10 times as high as a year ago. Before the energy crisis, Portland General locked in low prices and more power than it needed through long-term contracts. Then, by the third quarter of 2000, Portland General nearly tripled its revenue from selling excess power on the wholesale market. The higher revenue led to higher profits, which allowed the company to rescind a 17% rate increase that was to go into effect in January. Meanwhile, the inability to keep up with soaring electricity prices forced Pacific Gas to seek Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection earlier this month. Pacific Gas and Southern California Edison weren't allowed to fully pass on the high power costs to customers because, under deregulation, they agreed to assume the risk of fluctuating power prices. For the first two years of this arrangement, wholesale prices were so low that the utilities collected billions of dollars extra that they used to pay down old debts. But with skyrocketing wholesale costs, Pacific Gas and Edison accrued billions of dollars of power-purchase liabilities. By early this year, both had stopped paying many of their obligations to conserve cash. Dynegy's Net Income, Revenue More Than Double Dynegy, a big supplier of electrical energy to the California market, saw its first-quarter net income more than double amid a surge in revenue. The Houston-based company posted net income of $139.5 million, or 41 cents a diluted share, compared with net income of $69 million, or 23 cents a share, a year earlier. Excluding a $2 million gain from an accounting change, Dynegy earned $137.5 million, or 41 cents a share, a penny better than the mean estimate from analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial/First Call. Revenue in the quarter more than doubled to $14.17 billion from $5.35 billion. Dynegy's earnings a year earlier include a gain of $33.8 million from the sale of certain power-generation facilities, and a charge of $44.2 million for merger-related costs and the sale and impairment of certain liquids assets. Excluding the items, the company earned $79.4 million, or 26 cents a share, for the 2000 first quarter. The company's outstanding shares rose 16% to 337.7 million as of March 31 from 291.9 million shares a year earlier. Dynegy attributed first-quarter growth to "nationwide asset optimization, increased customer origination and risk-management activities." The company said it benefited from strong industry fundamentals in both natural gas and power. It capitalized on a return to seasonal winter weather and the supply and demand imbalances affecting multiple energy commodities. Earlier this month, Dynegy raised its first-quarter earnings outlook to 40 cents a share. At the time, analysts had expected the power supplier to earn 31 cents a share. Dynegy's marketing and trading unit, which also runs power generators, turned in another strong performance, accounting for 73% of the company's net income for the quarter. The segment earned $100.3 million for the first quarter, nearly double the $50.3 million it posted a year earlier. The company said its marketing and trading operation benefited from seasonal winter weather across the U.S. and strong supply and demand fundamentals, which allowed for higher prices. Increased origination activity from Dynegy's European operations also contributed to the segment's positive results. Dynegy said generation operations at West Coast Power, its joint venture with NRG Energy Inc., Minneapolis, didn't make a "material contribution" during the quarter. But the venture reduced its prospective credit exposure in the California market through its agreement with the California Department of Water Resources to provide the state with up to 2,300 megawatts of energy through 2004. In February, Dynegy joined Reliant Energy Inc. and Mirant Corp. to form a creditors committee to explore options for getting paid for electricity sold to the California Independent System Operator and California's investor-owned utilities, amid frustration with the slow progress in California's attempts to solve the energy crisis. Copyright , 2000 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Action on energy trading floors reverberate in power-hungry California By MICHAEL LIEDTKE AP Business Writer 04/17/2001 Associated Press Newswires Copyright 2001. The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. In Houston, it's known as "the power corner." Separated by just a few city blocks, four major power wholesalers run trading exchanges that have a strong influence on energy prices nationwide. The trading floors run by Enron Corp., Reliant Energy Inc., Dynegy Inc. and Duke Energy Corp. represent ground zero in a power crisis threatening the quality of life in much of the western United States this summer. By seizing upon opportunities created by deregulation, the energy traders have turned up the juice in the electricity business in ways similar to how junk bond traders ignited Wall Street in the 1980s and venture capitalists fueled Silicon Valley last decade. And thanks to an exemption granted in the early 1990s, nobody monitors daily trading to detect unfair or illegal practices. Utility bills in California have gone up nearly fourfold in the past year, to $27.1 billion. Without fundamental changes in the energy market, this year's bill will rise to $70 billion - more than $2,000 for every person in the state, according to operators of the state's power grid. The staggering electricity price increases have pushed the state's largest utility, Pacific Gas and Electric, into bankruptcy and left No. 2 Southern California Edison on the brink of insolvency. California's once-ample budget surplus also has shriveled, as the state is spending about $50 million a day to buy enough power to keep the lights on. The energy wholesalers say they're doing nothing wrong. They blame the high prices on the rising price of natural gas, burned to generate electricity, and the state's botched deregulation plan. By failing to line up reliable power ahead of time and by imposing price caps for consumers, the state put itself into this mess, the companies say. "There have been accusations of wrongdoing for eight months now and there isn't a shred of evidence to support the allegations," said Gary Ackerman, executive director of the Western Power Trading Forum, a Menlo Park, Calif., trade group. "People are very angry and frustrated about electricity right now and attorneys are trying to take that anger out on us." Attorneys general in Washington, Oregon and California are probing whether the wholesalers have violated antitrust laws or engaged in unfair business practices. A California state senate committee may issue subpoenas for records and the testimony of top energy executives, and at least five lawsuits accuse energy companies of market abuses. "This is the best fraud I have ever seen," attorney Michael Aguirre of San Diego, who is involved in one of the class-action suits. "The generators are doing everything that you think that they might be doing, only it's worse than you ever imagined." The lawsuits and investigations allege that generators have conspired to hijack billions of dollars from consumers and taxpayers by withholding electricity from energy-starved California until the last minute, and then supplying it at exorbitant prices. At Enron's headquarters in Houston, energy specialists among the company's 1,500 traders swap electricity and natural gas contracts like stocks and bonds. Mathematicians, meteorologists and economists make complex calculations to identify where to buy the cheapest power and where to deliver it at the greatest profit. "They are extremely good at what they do," said Severin Borenstein, director of the University of California at Berkeley's energy institute. The Internet has provided the traders with the tools to do their jobs even better. Online marketplaces and password-protected exchanges provide them with invaluable real-time information on the buying and selling patterns of their rivals. Two lawsuits allege that traders have parlayed the sensitive information collected online to fix prices artificially high, a violation of antitrust laws. Aguirre has spent six months assembling reams of data about traders and their activities, but he has yet to develop concrete evidence to prove his price-fixing allegations. A March 21 report by California's electricity grid managers concluded that, between last May and November, 98 percent of trading bids were driven up by noncompetitive patterns of behavior. The California Independent System Operator report stopped short of accusing wholesalers of illegal market manipulation, but it did determine that the wholesalers collected as much as $6.9 billion in "unjust and unreasonable" rates. Enron says its trading system, particularly the online exchange, has resulted in fairer and more efficient markets. The allegations of market abuse are "just some sour grapes from people who didn't come up with the idea in the first place," said Enron spokesman Eric Thode. The online exchanges and other industry Web sites provide the energy traders with a window to see the energy availability and bids in markets around the country. Power industry critics, however, contend the Web's instant access provides the traders a way to exploit a delicate supply-demand balance. If the scale is tipped even slightly toward an inadequate supply, they say, prices soar and energy traders reap huge gains. "The whole trading thing is just a front that lets them game the market," Aguirre said. "They can get away with it because no one (outside the industry) can figure out what they are doing." Whatever the energy traders are doing, it's not closely monitored by government regulators. In 1993, the trading of energy products received an exemption from oversight by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, a federal agency that oversees commodity and options trading to protect markets from fraud and manipulation. Energy is the only commodity that has received a blanket CFTC exemption. The exemption was shepherded beginning in 1992 by then-CFTC chairwoman Wendy Gramm, wife of Texas Sen. Phil Gramm. She left the CFTC three months before the exemption received final approval in 1993. That same year, she joined the Enron board of directors, a post that last year earned her $50,000. Gramm, an economist at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University, said she doesn't recall talking with Enron about the exemption, which she characterized as a routine matter triggered by an antitrust case involving crude oil. "It really didn't have anything to do with Enron or any specific company," said Gramm. "It had to do with a general market problem." In granting the exemption, the CFTC accepted the industry's contention that it shouldn't be subjected to the government's usual commodities regulation because its markets are dominated by "large sophisticated commercial entities" capable of protecting themselves - in short, that there would be no little people to hurt. At the time, then-CFTC commissioner Sheila Bair scoffed at the reasoning, comparing energy traders to boiler room sales operations that had the potential to violate federal anti-fraud laws. "Is it really that much of burden on market participants (for the CFTC) to retain a sliver of authority regarding fraudulent activity?" Bair wrote in a dissenting opinion. Wholesale electricity prices negotiated by the traders are eventually compiled in quarterly reports and reviewed by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. And while FERC by law is supposed to prevent unfair prices, a majority of its commissioners have advocated a hands-off approach to California's energy crisis, insisting that the market can correct itself. That posture may finally be changing somewhat. On Wednesday in San Jose, Calif., FERC chairman Curt Hebert told lawmakers that his agency hopes to begin "monitoring and mitigating" the wholesale electricity market by May 1. This could allow FERC to preemptively influence prices. Energy economists who have studied the market see signs of ruthless, but perfectly legal, behavior. Paul Joskow, an MIT economist, concluded in January that electricity producers deliberately withheld power to drive up prices. "Every business exercises market power when it can, so I don't know why people are so surprised that (the generators) used their market power," Joskow said. "I didn't see any evidence of collusion in what they did ... It was just good business." Enron's specific trading methods remain a mystery even to industry analysts, partly because the company considers its techniques to be proprietary. But it yielded a big payoff last year - an operating profit of $1.6 billion, up 160 percent from $628 million in 1999. When electricity and natural gas prices soared to record highs in the fourth quarter, Enron's trading profit more than tripled to $538 million. Without providing specifics, Enron officials said the profits poured in from all over the country. "Our success is linked to efficient markets, not higher prices in California, or anywhere else for that matter," Steve Kean, an Enron executive vice president, said in January testimony before the U.S. Senate. "What we are interested in is competitive and well-functioning markets. Our financial success is not built on California's back." AP Photo FX101 of April 16, AP Graphic POWER PLAYERS Copyright , 2000 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Energy Trading-Floor Gambits Perturb Power-Hungry US West 04/17/2001 Dow Jones Energy Service (Copyright © 2001, Dow Jones & Company, Inc.) HOUSTON (AP)--In Houston, it's known as "the power corner." Separated by just a few city blocks, four major power wholesalers run trading exchanges that have a strong influence on energy prices nationwide. The trading floors run by Enron Corp. (ENE), Reliant Energy Inc. (REI), Dynegy Inc. (DYN) and Duke Energy Corp. (DUK) represent ground zero in a power crisis threatening the quality of life in much of the western U.S. this summer. By seizing upon opportunities created by deregulation, the energy traders have turned up the juice in the electricity business in ways similar to how junk bond traders ignited Wall Street in the 1980s and venture capitalists fueled Silicon Valley last decade. And thanks to an exemption granted in the early 1990s, nobody monitors daily trading to detect unfair or illegal practices. Utility bills in California have gone up nearly fourfold in the past year, to $27.1 billion. Without fundamental changes in the energy market, this year's bill will rise to $70 billion - more than $2,000 for every person in the state, according to operators of the state's power grid. The staggering electricity price increases have pushed the state's largest utility, Pacific Gas and Electric (PCG), into bankruptcy and left No. 2 Southern California Edison (EIX) on the brink of insolvency. California's once-ample budget surplus also has shriveled, as the state is spending about $50 million a day to buy enough power to keep the lights on. The energy wholesalers say they're doing nothing wrong. They blame the high prices on the rising price of natural gas, burned to generate electricity, and the state's botched deregulation plan. By failing to line up reliable power ahead of time and by imposing price caps for consumers, the state put itself into this mess, the companies say. "There have been accusations of wrongdoing for eight months now and there isn't a shred of evidence to support the allegations," said Gary Ackerman, executive director of the Western Power Trading Forum, a Menlo Park, Calif., trade group. "People are very angry and frustrated about electricity right now and attorneys are trying to take that anger out on us." Attorneys general in Washington, Oregon and California are probing whether the wholesalers have violated antitrust laws or engaged in unfair business practices. A California state senate committee may issue subpoenas for records and the testimony of top energy executives, and at least five lawsuits accuse energy companies of market abuses. "This is the best fraud I have ever seen," attorney Michael Aguirre of San Diego, who is involved in one of the class-action suits. "The generators are doing everything that you think that they might be doing, only it's worse than you ever imagined." The lawsuits and investigations allege that generators have conspired to hijack billions of dollars from consumers and taxpayers by withholding electricity from energy-starved California until the last minute, and then supplying it at exorbitant prices. At Enron's headquarters in Houston, energy specialists among the company's 1,500 traders swap electricity and natural gas contracts like stocks and bonds. Mathematicians, meteorologists and economists make complex calculations to identify where to buy the cheapest power and where to deliver it at the greatest profit. "They are extremely good at what they do," said Severin Borenstein, director of the University of California at Berkeley's energy institute. The Internet has provided the traders with the tools to do their jobs even better. Online marketplaces and password-protected exchanges provide them with invaluable real-time information on the buying and selling patterns of their rivals. Two lawsuits allege that traders have parlayed the sensitive information collected online to fix prices artificially high, a violation of antitrust laws. Aguirre has spent six months assembling reams of data about traders and their activities, but he has yet to develop concrete evidence to prove his price-fixing allegations. A March 21 report by California's electricity grid managers concluded that, between last May and November, 98% of trading bids were driven up by noncompetitive patterns of behavior. The California Independent System Operator report stopped short of accusing wholesalers of illegal market manipulation, but it did determine that the wholesalers collected as much as $6.9 billion in "unjust and unreasonable" rates. Enron says its trading system, particularly the online exchange, has resulted in fairer and more efficient markets. The allegations of market abuse are "just some sour grapes from people who didn't come up with the idea in the first place," said Enron spokesman Eric Thode. The online exchanges and other industry Web sites provide the energy traders with a window to see the energy availability and bids in markets around the country. Power industry critics, however, contend the Web's instant access provides the traders a way to exploit a delicate supply-demand balance. If the scale is tipped even slightly toward an inadequate supply, they say, prices soar and energy traders reap huge gains. "The whole trading thing is just a front that lets them game the market," Aguirre said. "They can get away with it because no one (outside the industry) can figure out what they are doing." Whatever the energy traders are doing, it's not closely monitored by government regulators. In 1993, the trading of energy products received an exemption from oversight by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, a federal agency that oversees commodity and options trading to protect markets from fraud and manipulation. Energy is the only commodity that has received a blanket CFTC exemption. The exemption was shepherded beginning in 1992 by then-CFTC chairwoman Wendy Gramm, wife of Texas Sen. Phil Gramm. She left the CFTC three months before the exemption received final approval in 1993. That same year, she joined the Enron board of directors, a post that last year earned her $50,000. Gramm, an economist at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University, said she doesn't recall talking with Enron about the exemption, which she characterized as a routine matter triggered by an antitrust case involving crude oil. "It really didn't have anything to do with Enron or any specific company," said Gramm. "It had to do with a general market problem." In granting the exemption, the CFTC accepted the industry's contention that it shouldn't be subjected to the government's usual commodities regulation because its markets are dominated by "large sophisticated commercial entities" capable of protecting themselves - in short, that there would be no little people to hurt. At the time, then-CFTC commissioner Sheila Bair scoffed at the reasoning, comparing energy traders to boiler room sales operations that had the potential to violate federal anti-fraud laws. "Is it really that much of burden on market participants (for the CFTC) to retain a sliver of authority regarding fraudulent activity?" Bair wrote in a dissenting opinion. Wholesale electricity prices negotiated by the traders are eventually compiled in quarterly reports and reviewed by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. And while FERC by law is supposed to prevent unfair prices, a majority of its commissioners have advocated a hands-off approach to California's energy crisis, insisting that the market can correct itself. That posture may finally be changing somewhat. On Wednesday in San Jose, Calif., FERC chairman Curt Hebert told lawmakers that his agency hopes to begin "monitoring and mitigating" the wholesale electricity market by May 1. This could allow FERC to preemptively influence prices. Energy economists who have studied the market see signs of ruthless, but perfectly legal, behavior. Paul Joskow, an MIT economist, concluded in January that electricity producers deliberately withheld power to drive up prices. "Every business exercises market power when it can, so I don't know why people are so surprised that (the generators) used their market power," Joskow said. "I didn't see any evidence of collusion in what they did... It was just good business." Enron's specific trading methods remain a mystery even to industry analysts, partly because the company considers its techniques to be proprietary. But it yielded a big payoff last year - an operating profit of $1.6 billion, up 160 percent from $628 million in 1999. When electricity and natural gas prices soared to record highs in the fourth quarter, Enron's trading profit more than tripled to $538 million. Without providing specifics, Enron officials said the profits poured in from all over the country. "Our success is linked to efficient markets, not higher prices in California, or anywhere else for that matter," Steve Kean, an Enron executive vice president, said in January testimony before the U.S. Senate. "What we are interested in is competitive and well-functioning markets. Our financial success is not built on California's back." Copyright , 2000 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. High demand for power behind Enron's increased earnings By KRISTEN HAYS Associated Press Writer 04/17/2001 Associated Press Newswires Copyright 2001. The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. HOUSTON (AP) - High demand for electricity and natural gas helped Enron Corp.'s first-quarter net income surge more than 25 percent. The company also announced increased earnings expectations for 2001. Houston-based Enron, the world's top buyer and seller of natural gas and electricity, said Tuesday that it earned $425 million, or 49 cents per share, in the three months ended March 31, compared with $338 million, or 40 cents per share in the year-ago period. This year's results include a $19 million, or 2 cents per share gain, due to the adoption of new accounting standards; excluding the item, Enron earned $406 million, or 47 cents per share. The result beat comparable expectations of analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial/First Call, who predicted earnings of 45 cents per share. First-quarter revenues nearly quadrupled to $50.1 billion, compared to revenues of $13.1 billion in the first three months of 2000. Enron also increased its 2001 overall earnings prediction to $1.75 to $1.80 per share. Previously, the company said it expected 2001 earnings of $1.70 to $1.75 per share, and the consensus of analysts was for $1.74 per share. "Enron's wholesale business continues to generate outstanding results. Transaction and volume growth are translating into increased profitability," said Jeff Skilling, president and CEO of Enron. Carol Coale, an analyst with Prudential Securities Inc. in Houston, said Enron's earnings reports were no surprise because of increased demand for power and gas in power-strapped California and across the country. "Clearly the California energy crisis has raised the bar on those power and gas trading and marketing profits," she said. "Opportunities have existed outside California as well." Coale said volatile electricity prices have helped trading profits, and demand remains strong despite an economic slowdown. The company attributed the increase to continued growth in its wholesale energy-trading business, acceleration in its retail energy services and in its broadband Internet business. In its wholesale business, Enron resells power and gas to utilities and other large customers. That business accounted for 96 percent of its first-quarter revenues. Shares of Enron rose $1.29 to $60.73 in trading Tuesday on the New York Stock Exchange. --- On the Net: http://www.enron.com Copyright , 2000 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Business Enron CEO: Earnings Target Up By A Nickel Rhonda Schaffler, Gregg Hymowitz 04/17/2001 CNNfn: Market Coverage - Morning © Copyright Federal Document Clearing House. All Rights Reserved. RHONDA SCHAFFLER, CNNfn ANCHOR, MARKET CALL: Markets are down. We`re going to talk about one stock moving higher, though. North America`s largest gas and electricity maker is bucking the current earnings trend. Enron (URL: http://.www.enron.com/) is raising its earnings forecast for this year by a nickel. The company also earned 47cents a share for its first quarter, 2 pennies better than estimates and 7 cents better than the year ago. Revenues rose a healthy 282 percent. Jobs cuts and the end of its video on demand deal with Blockbuster (URL: http://www.blockbuster.com/) put pressure on the stock, which has fallen from $90, to significantly lower level right now, about $60 a share. Joining us from Houston with an inside look at Enron is the company`s CEO, Jeff Skilling. Jeff, welcome back to "Market Call." JEFFREY SKILLING, CEO, ENRON CORP.: Thank you, Rhonda. Glad to be here. SCHAFFLER: Let`s talk about the revenue growth because it is rather impressive. You`re an old economy company with a new twist. Where was most of the revenue growth from? SKILLING: Well, surprisingly, it came from our natural gas and electricity business. SCHAFFLER: No, well that`s not surprising. It`s a key part of your business. As opposed to your broadband, do you mean? SKILLILNG: Well, just about 90 percent of our earnings- I`m going to pull this out of my ear because I`m getting some feedback on the earphone. Actually that`s working better now. About 90 percent, or 95 percent, of our revenues are in the natural gas and electricity business, so as long as that business is healthy, our business overall is healthy. GREGG HYMOWITZ, CNNfn GUEST HOST, MARKET CALL: Jeff, it`s Gregg Hymowitz. Can you discuss, as related to that business, the pricing of megawatt hours going forward, what we`ve seen it at. And also can you just touch upon fiber-optic bandwidth pricing lately? SKILLING: Sure-a tale of two cities. The electricity business is seeing very strong prices. In California, for example, probably a year and a half ago power sold for about $20 to $22 a megawatt hour. Right now in California, we`re probably closer to $550 a megawatt hour for the summer. And this is just because we have a short supply situation. There`s a lot of demand growth in California. We just haven`t built the power plants to serve it. Now, conversely in the fiber business, we`ve seen enormous capital investments over the last several years. Supply much exceeds demand and in that market prices have collapsed. In fact by our numbers, as you know, we`re in the process of creating a market for bandwidth, those prices are dropping in some cases by 30 percent a month. SCHAFFLER: Let`s talk about California for a moment. Pacific Gas & Electric (URL: http://www.pgecorp.com/) owes you some money. You`ve taken reserves against that. I`m wondering if you feel a need to increase reserves going forward or you`re comfortable with the situation as it is? SKILLING: We`re very comfortable. What we had said to investors, as long ago as December, was that we felt very comfortable with the $1.70 to $1.75 number for this year. As you mentioned, we`re raising that from $1.75 to $1.80. And we feel very comfortable with that number really regardless of what happens with the credit situation in California. HYMOWITZ: Jeff, getting back to that tale of two markets, discuss what could potentially happen to change the trend in both markets? SKILLING: Well, I think in the electricity market, we`ll have tight prices for another couple of years. It takes that long to get the construction cycle going. But once that construction cycle gets going it`s pretty easy to bring on capacity and prices will drop significantly. And probably the $30 to $40 megawatt hour area in the next couple of years and I think that`s very possible. In fact, I think that`s probable. In the bandwidth market, very, very different situation. The problem, to date, is that we built what amounts to an interstate highway system for bandwidth, or for data, with no on ramps and no off ramps. We need to get this last-mile problem fixed, so that people can get data from these networks all the way out to end-use customers. Once that happens, we`ll see a lot of applications developed that use bandwidth. It will soak up some of that excess supply and we might see prices coming back. I think that`s a much longer term proposition. SKILLING: Jeff, we`ve heard so much about this last-mile for so many years now. I mean when is it going to actually happen? SKILLING: Well, it`s just been slower. You were just mentioning the earnings of Sprint FON (URL: http://www.sprint.com/) . Many telecom companies are working to put DSL cable systems on, that helped bridge the last-mile problem, but it`s come much slower than people expected. These are enormously capital intensive investments. They take a long time to put in. There are still technical issues with some of these solutions. So, I just think we have a little ways to go. It will take some more time. SCHAFFLER: You had incredible revenue growth, which we mentioned, up 282 percent. Do you do anything different in this quarter? It`s always hard to top the last great act on Wall Street. SKILLING: The revenue numbers are not as important as our volume growth numbers. What really drives our profitability is growth in volume, physical volumes. They were up about 69 percent. Actual revenue numbers will be influenced by price changes. Price changes really don`t make that much of a difference for us. We don`t have any exposure to the commodity price cycle. So, what we look at is physical volumes transported through the system. And we`ve had just a tremendous track record for the last couple of years on volume. As I mentioned, this quarter up 69 percent in physical volumes. We think that`s a function of our market share position. And what amounts to a unique, logistics capability in North America and Europe. No one else can match it. SCHAFFLER: Jeffrey Skilling, we`ll leave it at that. Congratulations on the quarter. SKILLING: Thank you, Rhonda. Copyright , 2000 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Enron Corp. Says First-Quarter Profit Rose 20 Percent (Update6) 2001-04-17 16:04 (New York) Enron Corp. Says First-Quarter Profit Rose 20 Percent (Update6) (Adds closing share price in eighth paragraph.) Houston, April 17 (Bloomberg) -- Enron Corp., the largest energy-trading company, said first-quarter profit rose 20 percent as increased electricity and natural-gas demand sent prices surging in California and other parts of the U.S. Profit from operations rose to $406 million, or 47 cents a share, from $338 million, or 40 cents, in the year-earlier period, Enron Chief Executive Jeffrey Skilling said. Revenue almost quadrupled to $50.1 billion from $13.1 billion. ``The market is perfect for a trader and marketer,'' Commerzbank Capital Markets Co. analyst Andre Meade said. ``Volume is growing, prices are high and prices are volatile.'' Enron sold 90 percent more power and 32 percent more gas in North America than in the year-earlier quarter as prices surged. About one-fifth of the power-sales increase came from the western U.S. as California electricity prices averaged nine times higher than a year earlier. The rest came from the eastern U.S., which also has had power shortages. The Houston-based company also raised its 2001 profit forecast to $1.75 to $1.80 a share, from its January projection of $1.70 to $1.75. Once just a natural-gas pipeline company, Enron has spent more than a decade creating a trading operation that buys power, gas and other commodities and resells them to utilities and other large consumers, a business made possibly by deregulation of U.S. energy markets in the 1980s and 1990s. As a result, the company's sales have risen an average of 66 percent annually for the past five years. Enron had 2000 revenue of $101 billion, making it the second-largest U.S. energy company behind Exxon Mobil Corp. Revenue will total as much as $170 billion this year, Skilling estimated in March. Enron shares rose 56 cents to $60. They had fallen 28 percent this year on concerns about the company's telecommunications business and an India power project. California Business Electricity prices in California were higher in the first quarter than a year earlier as a power shortage continued and generators demanded higher payments to offset the risk of selling to the state's utilities. Prices for gas, used to fuel power plants, were more than double the year-earlier average. The higher prices have left California utilities more than $14 billion in debt because regulators won't let them pass on all the cost of power purchases on to consumers. Enron is owed $570 million by PG&E Corp.'s Pacific Gas & Electric, Skilling said in an interview. Pacific Gas & Electric, California's biggest utility, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection April 6. Enron has set aside money to cover potential California losses and doesn't expect the energy crisis to affect 2001 earnings, Skilling said. He wouldn't say how much was set aside. Investors are entitled to know how much Enron has put in reserves, analysts told Skilling on a conference call today. Skilling disagreed. ``I think that would hurt our competitive position, particularly when people are jostling for position in bankruptcy,'' Skilling said. Enron's business in energy-services contracts has escalated as a result of California's power crisis. Skilling has said demand is increasing as companies look to cut energy costs and protect themselves from the risks of energy-price movements. ``If you or I were running a factory around New York right now, we'd be calling Enron or a company like them to lock in energy prices,'' Credit Suisse First Boston analyst Curtis Launer said. ``That business is going gangbusters.'' Contracts increased nearly 60 percent to $5.9 billion in the quarter. Enron, which recently signed contracts with Owens- Illinois Inc., Quaker Oats Co. and Eli Lilly & Co., manages energy buying and consumption at more than 31,000 facilities. It is the largest manager of customer energy assets, Skilling said. Energy Deregulation The company's Wholesale Energy Operations and Services business, which includes trading and power-plant development, saw first-quarter profit before interest, minority interests and taxes rise 76 percent to $755 million from $429 million. In the first quarter, gas volumes more than tripled outside North America and rose 55 percent worldwide. On the power side, worldwide volumes more than doubled, while sales outside North America more than quadrupled. Enron has gained customers through EnronOnline, its Internet trading site. EnronOnline handled $162 billion in transactions in the quarter, Skilling said. It has handled more than $525 billion since it opened in late 1999. Enron's broadband unit, set up to build a U.S. fiber-optic network and help trade space on such networks, had a quarterly loss of $35 million on revenue of $83 million. It broke even a year earlier. Enron added 70 broadband customers in the latest quarter, for a total of 120. Broadband Woes Shares of Enron fell 11 percent on March 12 after the collapse of an agreement for Blockbuster Inc., the largest video- store chain, to deliver movies on demand over Enron's fiber-optic system. The stock continued to fall on speculation Enron would exit the broadband business, analysts said. Enron denied the speculation. Enron has been trying to get paid for power sold by its India unit to the western Indian state of Maharashtra. Enron's $3 billion, 740-megawatt project is the biggest foreign investment in India. A first-quarter gain of $19 million, or 2 cents a share, for an accounting change, made net income $425 million, or 49 cents a share. There were no charges or gains in the year-earlier period. The company was expected to make 45 cents a share, the average estimate of analysts polled by First Call/Thomson Financial. Estimates ranged from 43 cents to 47 cents. Dynegy's 1st-Qtr Profit Rises 73% on Gas, Power Sales (Update4) 2001-04-17 16:21 (New York) Dynegy's 1st-Qtr Profit Rises 73% on Gas, Power Sales (Update4) (Adds company comment on future earnings and additional generation capacity in the fifth paragraph, closes shares. For more on California, see {EXTRA <GO<}.) Houston, April 17 (Bloomberg) -- Dynegy Inc., a U.S. electricity and natural gas trader, said first-quarter profit rose 73 percent as colder winter weather boosted gas and power sales. Profit from operations rose to $137.5 million, or 41 cents a share, from $79.4 million, or 26 cents, a year earlier, the company said in a statement. Revenue more than doubled to $14.2 billion from $5.35 billion. Marketing and trading profit almost doubled to $100.3 million, or 73 percent of net income as the average price of gas more than doubled from a year ago. Power sales to California, hit by a 10-month electricity crisis, ``did not make a material contribution'' to earnings, the statement said. ``It's not just a California ballgame,'' UBS Warburg analyst James Yanello said. ``Lots of areas around the country have supply and demand imbalances, and this is one of the big players capable of resolving those supply and demand issues.'' Company executives remain comfortable with their earlier second-quarter earnings guidance of 35 cents a share, Chairman Chuck Watson told analysts during a conference call. Next year's earnings likewise should increase by up to 25 percent as Dynegy continues to build or acquire power plants, he said. ``What's driving the train for Dynegy for the past few years is the continued adding to our portfolio in generation across the country, and I don't see that slowing down in 2002,'' Watson said. California Reserves Dynegy has a reserve to cover money it might not get from power sales to California, canceling out profit from the state, spokesman Steve Stengel said. The company was owed $265 million from power sales to California as of Feb. 28, a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission said. Dynegy, based in Houston, and joint venture partner NRG Energy Inc. have sold 2,300 megawatts of power to the state's Department of Water Resources through 2004. That has cut credit risk from the state's cash-strapped utilities, the company said. California power prices rose ninefold last quarter from a year ago. A megawatt is enough power to light about 1,000 U.s. home. Shares of Dynegy rose $2.80 to close at $55.95. They are almost unchanged for the year. Northeast Dynegy's electricity sales and production rose 19 percent last quarter to 26.1 million megawatt-hours from a year ago, boosted by the addition of 1,100 megawatts of generation in the 2000 second half and the purchase last quarter of New York state power plants that can produce 1,700 megawatts. ``Dynegy is in a good position to earn good returns from those plants,'' analyst Anatol Feygin of J.P. Morgan Securities Inc. said. ``The press is full of prognostications that the New York area and the Northeast are the next California.'' New York and New England won't have enough generators or power lines to meet demand if temperatures are higher than normal this summer, industry officials have said. Few were built in the Northeast in recent years because of regulatory hurdles, even as economic growth boosted electricity consumption. Broadband Loss Dynegy's new Global Communications division, which markets and trades broadband, had a $11.6 million loss from start-up and expansion costs. Profit from the processing and marketing of natural-gas liquids fell 5.4 percent to $22.9 million. Last year's profit included about $4 million from assets that have been sold. Profit at Dynegy's Illinois Power utility, with 650,000 gas and power customers in southern Illinois, more than quintupled to $25.9 million on cost reductions and higher winter demand. The company was expected to earn 40 cents, based on the average estimate of analysts surveyed by First Call/Thomson Financial. A gain of $2.03 million in the quarter from an accounting change made net income of $139.5 million, or 41 cents a share. A year ago, a gain of $33.8 million from a power-plant sale and a charge of $44.2 million made net income $69 million, or 23 cents. Red Herring 100 Celebrates Top Companies Reshaping Business 04/17/2001 PR Newswire (Copyright © 2001, PR Newswire) Magazine Chooses 50 Private and 50 Public Companies That Continue to Reshape Markets Despite Current Economic Trends SAN FRANCISCO, April 17 /PRNewswire/ -- In the fifth annual Red Herring 100, editors of Red Herring, the leading magazine on the business of technology and innovation, identify the 100 companies whose products, services or business models - despite current economic uncertainties-continue to forge new markets. The leaders are profiled in Red Herring's May 1 double issue and are posted at http://www.rh100.redherring.com. The Red Herring 100 stands apart because companies are not measured by statistics alone, but are also reviewed on the subjective and metrical criteria favored by venture capitalists and investment bankers, including: a company's potential for disrupting its market, its execution of a sound strategy, the quality of its management and its financial performance, which is summed up by "The Herring Take". The listing favors companies whose promise is based on innovative and defensible technology with more than a dozen sectors represented, including software, biotechnology and communications services. Major category shifts were recognized in this year's Red Herring 100 in sectors like data storage, enterprise software and semiconductors, while entire sectors that failed to remain innovative are gone: Linux companies, PC makers, wireless communications and commerce. Editor Jason Pontin explained that companies were chosen for the Red Herring 100 based upon the magazine's belief in certain broad trends: continuing importance of IP telephony, critical advancements in energy production, the sudden glamour of biotechnology, and the utility of reconfigurable microchips. "In short, the Red Herring 100 are companies that retain the capacity to disrupt existing markets or create entirely new ones," Pontin exclaims. "As we shout on our cover, whatever the state of public and private equity markets, these companies still matter." The Red Herring 100 50 Private Companies 50 Public Companies Accel Partners Akamai Technologies Accenture AOL Time Warner Aimster Applied Micro Circuits Corporation AirFiber Ballard Power Systems Altra Energy Technologies Charles Schwab Amber Networks Check Point Software Technologies Asera Ciena Bang Networks Cisco Systems Bertelsmann Citigroup Bowstreet Corning Centerpoint Broadband Technologies Credit Suisse Group
|