Dominion Officers to Exercise Limited Number
of Vested Stock Options Under Annual Program
RICHMOND, Va. – Dominion (NYSE: D) announced today that its
officers have been granted approval by the compensation committee of the Board
of Directors to exercise a limited number of their vested company stock options,
granted as part of an ongoing shareholder-approved performance incentive program.
Today's announcement is part of a regular annual partial exercise of vested
stock options by executives, and it is an important component of Dominion's
strategy to more closely align executive compensation with the interests of
shareholders. The company announced a similar authorization in April 2002.
Under this year's authorization, approximately 788,000 stock
options are eligible to be exercised, which represents about 13 percent of the
affected officers' vested options. Today's limited authorization represents,
in general, only a small portion of individual officers' personal economic stake
in the company and will not result in any reduction in direct share ownership.
Thos. E. Capps, chairman, president and chief executive officer,
said:
"By periodically authorizing the exercise of vested options,
officers are able to achieve tangible recognition for the value they have helped
create for shareholders, while maintaining a significant personal financial
commitment to Dominion. This personal financial commitment helps to motivate
continued meaningful contributions to the growth in the value of Dominion Resources."
Capps is Dominion's largest individual shareholder, with direct
stock holdings of about 400,000 shares. As a group, Dominion's officers directly
own more than 2 million shares of Dominion Resources stock. By the end of 2002,
Dominion had delivered a three-year total return to shareholders of more than
60 percent, outperforming the S&P 500 as well as the S&P utility and
natural gas stock indices.
Capps also noted that enabling officers to exercise options
on a regular basis over time avoids concentration of options selling in a compressed
period of time, known as "bunching," which could pressure the company's
stock price. He also said the authorized sales will provide enhanced personal
liquidity for officers seeking to diversify their personal investments because
the company's senior management owns significant shares of Dominion stock under
ownership guidelines.
While officers can exercise any or all of their vested options
without advance approval, express approval is required before officers can exercise
options or sell company stock without the loss of significant benefits. Non-officers
have always had the ability to exercise their options and sell stock without
the loss of any benefits.
Conference call for investors / media
Management incentives and other matters can be discussed when
the company hosts its first-quarter earnings conference call for investors at
10 a.m. EDT on Wednesday, April 16. Members of the media are also invited to
listen.
Domestic investors who wish to participate in the conference
call should dial 877-241-5946. International investors should call 706-643-0540.
Participants should dial in 5 to 10 minutes prior to the scheduled start time.
A live web cast of the conference call will be available on
the company's investor information page at www.dom.com/investors.
A replay of the conference call will be available from approximately
11 a.m. EDT April 16 through 11 p.m. EDT April 23. Domestic investors may access
the recording by dialing 800-642-1687. International callers should dial 706-645-9291
to access the recording. The conference ID for the replay is 9631248. A replay
of the conference call also will be available on the company's investor information
home page by the end of the day April 16.
Dominion is one of the nation's largest producers of energy,
with an energy portfolio of about 24,000 megawatts of generation, 6.1 trillion
cubic feet equivalent of proved natural gas reserves and 7,900 miles of natural
gas transmission pipeline. Dominion also operates the nation's largest underground
natural gas storage system with more than 960 billion cubic feet of storage
capacity and serves 5 million retail energy customers in nine states. In addition,
Dominion owns a managing equity interest in Dominion Fiber Ventures LLC, owner
of Dominion Telecom. For more information about Dominion, visit the company's
web site at www.dom.com.
