Piedmont Natural Gas Initiates Fiscal Year 2015 Earnings Guidance

News provided by

Nov 03, 2014, 08:00 ET

CHARLOTTE, N.C., Nov. 3, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Piedmont Natural Gas (NYSE: PNY) is initiating earnings guidance in the range of $1.82 - $1.92 per diluted share for its fiscal year ending October 31, 2015. This guidance for fiscal year 2015 reflects the following assumptions:

Higher utility margin due to:
- The full year impact of the 2013 North Carolina rate case settlement which went into effect on January 1, 2014;
- Expected margin increases under the Integrity Management Rider (IMR) in North Carolina effective February 1, 2015 and the IMR in Tennessee, effective January 1, 2015 due to substantial system integrity capital investments.
- Gross utility customer additions of 1.6% in the Company's three state market area;
- Partially offset by lower wholesale secondary marketing margin due to an assumption of normal weather for the winter of 2014-2015 as well as a reduction in margin in South Carolina under the annual rate stabilization adjustment.
Operations and Maintenance (O&M) expense increases of less than 2% from fiscal year 2014 due primarily to higher utility operations expense to support pipeline integrity, safety and compliance programs.
Higher depreciation expense due to additional utility plant in service.
Increased contributions from joint venture equity method investments due mostly to increased allowance for funds used during construction (AFUDC) from the Constitution Pipeline and Atlantic Coast Pipeline projects.
Utility AFUDC of about $13 million reflecting forecasted utility capital expenditure levels and project schedules.
Utility capital expenditures in the range of $450 - $550 million, including approximately $250 million related to system integrity projects, as well as an additional $75-$125 million to fund the Company's joint venture equity interest in the Constitution Pipeline and Atlantic Coast Pipeline projects.
Higher interest expense primarily due to the full-year impact of the Company's $250 million long-term debt issuance in fiscal year 2014.
Issuance of both new long-term debt and equity in fiscal year 2015 to maintain the Company's long term targeted capital ratios of 50% - 60% total debt and 40% - 50% equity.

Forward-Looking Statement

This press release contains forward-looking statements. These statements are based on management's current expectations and information currently available and are believed to be reasonable and are made in good faith. However, the forward-looking statements are subject to future events, risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected in the statements. Factors that may make the actual results differ from anticipated results include, but are not limited to, weather conditions, rate of customer growth, the cost and availability of natural gas, competition from other energy providers, new legislation and regulations and application of existing laws and regulations, economic and capital market conditions, the cost and availability of labor and materials and other uncertainties, all of which are difficult to predict and some of which are beyond our control. For these reasons, you should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements when making investment decisions. The words "expect," "believe," "project," "anticipate," "intend," "should," "could," "assume," "can," "estimate," "forecast," "future," "indicate," "outlook," "plan," "predict," "seek," "target," "would," "guidance," and variations of such words and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are only as of the date they are made and we do not undertake any obligation to update publicly any forward-looking statement, either as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. More information about the risks and uncertainties relating to these forward-looking statements may be found in Piedmont's latest Forms 10-K and 10-Q, which are available on the SEC's website at http://www.sec.gov.

About Piedmont Natural Gas

Piedmont Natural Gas is an energy services company primarily engaged in the distribution of natural gas to more than one million residential, commercial, industrial and power generation utility customers in portions of North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee, including customers served by municipalities who are wholesale customers. Our subsidiaries are invested in joint venture, energy-related businesses, including unregulated retail natural gas marketing, and regulated interstate natural gas transportation and storage and intrastate natural gas transportation businesses. More information about Piedmont Natural Gas is available on the Internet at http://www.piedmontng.com/.

SOURCE Piedmont Natural Gas