Dividend Declared, Directors Elected at OGE Energy Corp. Annual Shareowners' Meeting
OKLAHOMA CITY, May 20 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- OGE Energy Corp. chairman, president and CEO Pete Delaney told shareowners gathered for their annual meeting that 2009 was another solid year of performance with strong earnings of $2.66 per share as the company executed on key initiatives that position the company for the future.
"Our company's management is focused on making the changes necessary to sustain value to you, our shareowners," Delaney said, noting that at the same time, "we are advancing initiatives in ways that enhance our ability to reliably meet expected growth in customer demand."
Delaney noted that OGE Energy, through its subsidiaries Oklahoma Gas and Electric Company (OG&E) and Enogex LLC (Enogex), must be ready to manage the uncertainties associated with volatile commodity prices, the development of new technologies, and increasingly stringent environmental regulations.
For OG&E, the company's regulated electric utility, one way to manage uncertainty is to defer the need for additional fossil-fueled electric generation at least until 2020. "We are making great progress on our renewable energy and demand-management programs to position us for a carbon constrained future," Delaney said. "And in the near term, these investments are providing benefits to our customers through fuel savings and more efficient use of electricity."
"While investments from wind, transmission, and smart grid programs provide growth opportunities for OG&E, the growth picture for Enogex remains bright as well," Delaney said. The midstream pipeline business expects a 7 percent increase in natural gas-gathering volumes this year and a 12 increase in natural gas liquids processing.
"Enogex remains focused on a solid return on capital invested, balanced with maintaining a strong competitive position," Delaney said. "The business is sound, with ample liquidity and good cash flow."
In voting announced at the annual meeting, OGE Energy shareowners ratified the appointment of Ernst & Young LLP as the company's principal independent accountants for 2010, approved amendments to the restated certificate of incorporation and bylaws to provide for the annual election of directors, and elected three members of the company's board of directors to three-year terms:
- James H. Brandi, partner of Hill Street Capital LLC, was elected. He has been a director of OGE Energy and of OG&E since February 2010.
- Luke R. Corbett, former chairman and CEO of Kerr-McGee Corporation, was re-elected. He has been a director of OGE Energy and of OG&E since December 1996.
- Peter B. Delaney, chairman, president and CEO of OGE Energy and OG&E, was re-elected. He has been a director of OGE Energy and of OG&E since January 2007.
Also today, the OGE Energy Corp. Board of Directors declared a regular quarterly dividend of $0.3625 per common share of stock, to be paid July 30, 2010 to shareowners of record on July 9, 2010. The dividend was unchanged from the previous quarter.
OGE Energy is the parent company of OG&E, which serves more than 779,000 customers in a service territory spanning 30,000 square miles in Oklahoma and western Arkansas, and of Enogex, a midstream natural gas pipeline business with principal operations in Oklahoma.
Some of the matters discussed in this news release may contain forward-looking statements that are subject to certain risks, uncertainties and assumptions. Such forward-looking statements are intended to be identified in this document by the words "anticipate," "believe," "estimate," "expect," "intend," "objective," "plan," "possible," "potential," "project" and similar expressions. Actual results may vary materially. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially include, but are not limited to: general economic conditions, including the availability of credit, access to existing lines of credit, actions of rating agencies and their impact on capital expenditures; the ability of the Company and its subsidiaries to access the capital markets and obtain financing on favorable terms; prices and availability of electricity, coal, natural gas and natural gas liquids, each on a stand-alone basis and in relation to each other; business conditions in the energy and natural gas midstream industries; competitive factors including the extent and timing of the entry of additional competition in the markets served by the Company; unusual weather; availability and prices of raw materials for current and future construction projects; Federal or state legislation and regulatory decisions and initiatives that affect cost and investment recovery, have an impact on rate structures or affect the speed and degree to which competition enters the Company's markets; environmental laws and regulations that may impact the Company's operations; changes in accounting standards, rules or guidelines; the discontinuance of accounting principles for certain types of rate-regulated activities; creditworthiness of suppliers, customers and other contractual parties; the higher degree of risk associated with the Company's nonregulated business compared with the Company's regulated utility business; and other risk factors listed in the reports filed by the Company with the Securities and Exchange Commission including those listed in Risk Factors and Exhibit 99.01 to the Company's Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2009.
SOURCE OGE Energy Corp.
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