Millstone Unit #3 Outage Not Expected to Affect
Annual Guidance
Conference call scheduled for Wednesday,
May 4 at 10:00 a.m. EDT
RICHMOND, Va. – Dominion (NYSE: D) announced today preliminary
unaudited earnings determined in accordance with Generally Accepted Accounting
Principles (GAAP) for the three months ended March 31, 2005 of $1.25 per share.
Dominion also announced today preliminary operating earnings
of $1.44 per share for the three months ended March 31, 2005. Operating earnings
are defined as earnings prepared in accordance with GAAP adjusted for certain
items. This preliminary result falls in the upper end of the company’s
first quarter operating earnings guidance range of $1.35 to $1.45 per share.
Dominion uses operating earnings as the primary performance
measurement of its earnings outlook and results for public communications with
analysts and investors. Dominion also uses operating earnings internally for
budgeting, reporting to the board of directors and for the company’s annual
incentive plan. Dominion management believes operating earnings provide a more
meaningful representation of the company’s fundamental earnings power.
The following charges, all shown on an after-tax basis, are
included in first quarter 2005 GAAP earnings, but are excluded from operating
earnings: 13 cents per share related to the acquisition of the Panda non-utility
generation facility that occurred in the first quarter and 6 cents per share
of charges related to exiting certain activities. A detailed reconciliation
of operating earnings to GAAP earnings will be provided with Dominion’s
May 4 earnings release.
Millstone Unit #3 Outage Not Expected to Affect Annual
Guidance
An unplanned outage that began last Sunday at Unit 3 of Dominion’s
Millstone Nuclear Station is not expected to affect the company’s full-year
earnings guidance. In the normal course of planning and budgeting, management
includes estimates of unplanned outage time at its nuclear facilities. Current
expectations for Unit 3’s resumption of service, and replacement power
costs for the outage, fall well within budgeted annual estimates.
May 4 earnings conference call
Dominion will host a conference call at 10:00 a.m. EDT on
Wednesday, May 4, when management will discuss details of first quarter earnings
to be released that morning and other issues of interest to the financial community.
Members of the media are also invited to listen.
Domestic callers who wish to participate in the conference
call should dial 888-243-3836. International callers should
dial 973-935-2096. Participants should dial in 10 to 15 minutes
prior to the scheduled start time. Members of the media also are invited to
listen.
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
1 p.m. EDT, May 4 until 11 p.m. EDT, May 11. Domestic investors may access the
recording by dialing 877-519-4471. International callers should
dial 973-341-3080 to access the recording. The PIN
for the conference call replay is 5958467. Additionally, a
replay of the Web cast will be available on the company’s investor information
page by the end of the day May 4.
Dominion is one of the nation's largest producers of energy,
with a portfolio of about 28,100 megawatts of generation, about 6 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 965 billion cubic feet of storage
capacity and serves retail energy customers in nine states. For more information
about Dominion, visit the company's Web site at www.dom.com.
This release contains forward-looking statements, including
the company’s preliminary estimate of GAAP and operating earnings for
the three months ended March 31, 2005, and the company’s expectations
of the effect of an unplanned outage at one of its nuclear stations, that are
subject to various risks. The stated results are preliminary and unaudited and
represent the best information available at this time. The company is in the
process of finalizing its financial statements that will be filed with the Securities
and Exchange Commission (SEC). Accordingly, there may be differences between
the company’s preliminary financial results and those included in its
quarterly report filed with the SEC on Form 10-Q. The company’s expectations
of the effect of the unplanned nuclear outage is subject to various uncertainties,
including those risk factors outlined in our most recent annual report on Form
10-K filed with the SEC.
