Dive Brief:
- TECO Energy reported second quarter earnings of $61.9 million, or 26 cents per share, slightly up from $60.3 million the year before.
- Company officials, who in July confirmed the organization was considering “strategic alternatives,” including a potential sale, did not offer additional comment during the earnings call with analysts last week.
- Strong earnings from TECO's utilities are helping the company reach 6% year-over-year growth in earnings from continuing operations.
Dive Insight:
TECO Energy officials kept silent on any potential sale news during the company's recent second quarter earnings call. President and CEO John Ramil led off the call by saying they would not be addressing the issue, and responded to the inevitable question later on by saying: “We expect that process to move forward and will either have some announcement or we will keep moving ahead like we normally do.”
TECO was valued around $4.4 billion before the sale announcement. It is the third-largest utility in Florida, and potential buyers could include Duke Energy, Florida Power & Light, Dominion Resources, Southern Co. and CenterPoint Energy.
In addition to the lack of a sales update, TECO said that “due to recent developments in negotiations regarding the sale of TECO Coal the company is deferring reporting results from discontinued operations at this time." A complete report of second-quarter GAAP results, including unaudited financial statements, is expected by the end of this week.
TECO reported second-quarter non-GAAP results from continuing operations of $61.9 million, compared with $60.3 million in 2014. GAAP results from continuing operations were $61.5 million, compared to $57.6 million last year.
“Our Florida operations delivered strong financial performance this quarter and experienced customer growth of 1.8% and 2.2% at Tampa Electric and Peoples Gas, respectively - well above the national average,” Ramil said. The company's New Mexico Gas subsidiary saw improving customer growth and almost broke even during a quarter Ramil said “typically has produced moderate seasonal losses.”
“The strong performance this quarter, combined with our good first quarter results allowed us to deliver 6% year-over-year growth in earnings from continuing operations,” he said.
