Piedmont Natural Gas Reports Results For Fiscal Year 2013

CHARLOTTE, N.C., Dec. 23, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Piedmont Natural Gas (NYSE: PNY) today announced results for its fiscal year ended October 31, 2013.  For the year, the Company reported net income of $134.4 million and diluted earnings per share of $1.78 compared with net income of $119.8 million and diluted earnings per share of $1.66 for 2012.

Commenting on the Company's fiscal year 2013 results, Piedmont Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer, Thomas E. Skains said, "We are pleased with our solid financial and operating performance in 2013.  We executed a record $672 million capital expansion program in 2013 in support of customer growth, power generation delivery projects, system integrity programs and joint venture opportunities.  We completed our large Sutton Pipeline project providing natural gas delivery service to a new state-of-the-art gas-fired power generation facility near Wilmington, North Carolina, enhanced the safety, security and reliability of our pipeline systems, and added 14,274 new customers in our three-state service area, up 7.5 percent from our customer additions in 2012. In 2013, we also continued to improve our business processes, enhance our customer service, and implement sustainable business practices, all of which will serve us well in the years ahead."

System throughput in 2013 totaled 387.6 million dekatherms, compared with 324.3 million dekatherms in 2012.  The increase was largely due to a 26 percent increase in volumes delivered to power generation customers, coupled with a 22 percent increase in volumes delivered to weather sensitive residential, commercial and industrial customers.  Overall, weather during 2013 was 2 percent colder than normal and 25 percent colder than 2012.

Utility margin increased $46 million from the prior year primarily due to increased transportation services from new contracts for power generation customers, customer growth and higher volumes from residential, commercial and industrial customers due to colder weather.  Operations and maintenance expenses increased $10.5 million from the previous year primarily due to higher costs incurred for contract labor related to process improvement and pipeline integrity programs, payroll, bad debt expense and regulatory amortizations, partially offset by a decrease in employee benefits costs.

Utility interest charges were $24.9 million in 2013 compared to $20.1 million in 2012. The increase in interest charges was due to increases in long-term debt, partially offset by an increase in capitalized interest income and lower balances of short-term debt at lower interest rates.

Pre-tax income from equity method investments was $26.1 million in 2013 compared with $23.9 million in 2012. The increase was primarily due to the first year of the Company's investment activity in the Constitution Pipeline project and colder weather and new markets served by the Company's SouthStar Energy joint venture.

FISCAL 2014 EARNINGS GUIDANCE REAFFIRMED

Piedmont Natural Gas reaffirms its fiscal year 2014 earnings guidance of $1.73 to $1.83 per diluted share issued on November 1, 2013. 

DIVIDEND

At its regular quarterly meeting of the Company's Board of Directors on December 12, 2013, Piedmont Natural Gas announced the declaration of a quarterly dividend on Common Stock of $.31 per share, payable January 15, 2014, to holders of record at the close of business on December 24, 2013.

CONFERENCE CALL

In conjunction with this year-end earnings release, you are invited to listen to the conference call that will be broadcast live over the Internet on Friday, January 3, 2014, at 10:00 a.m. Eastern Time. Log on to the web at http://www.piedmontng.com and click on Investors, then on Presentations. The conference call will be archived on the Presentations page of the website within the Investor Relations section.

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 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, regulated interstate natural gas transportation and storage, and regulated 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