Extraordinary losses were recorded in both periods as a result of the introduction of customer choice in the Ohio and Texas jurisdictions in 2000 and 1999, respectively. Special items included a foreign tax credit in 1999 and merger costs in 2000. Amounts for all prior periods have been restated on a pooling of interest basis to reflect the merger with Central and South West Corporation that was consummated on June 15, 2000.
"Trading and wholesale marketing of power continues to be an increasing factor in our results, driving our comparative performance for the quarter by 29 cents per share," said E. Linn Draper Jr., AEP chairman, president and chief executive officer. "The return to service of Unit 2 of the Cook Nuclear Plant, the mild weather in the northeast portion of our service territory and better management of fossil-fueled generating unit outages increased the availability of power that could be marketed to wholesale customers in the quarter."
Cook Plant’s Unit 2 returned to service on June 25, 2000 and reached 100 percent power on July 5, 2000. Work to restart Unit 1 in the first quarter of 2001 continues on schedule.
Year-to-date earnings before extraordinary and special items were $2.21 per share, or $710 million, compared with $2.37 per share, or $760 million, in 1999. The decline in earnings was predominantly due to the Cook Plant restart efforts.
Income before extraordinary and special items for the 12 months ended Sept. 30 was $2.70 per share, or $868 million, compared with $2.63 per share, or $843 million, in 1999.
Draper indicated that -- based on the strong performance in the third quarter -- the company is increasing its guidance for 2000 earnings to a range of $2.60 to $2.65 per share before extraordinary and special items.
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AEP’s third-quarter conference call with analysts will be broadcast live over the Internet at 2 p.m. EDT today. The webcast is at http://www.videonewswire.com/AMERICAN/102400/ For those unable to listen during the live webcast, the call will be archived for replay on AEP’s web site, http://www.aep.com. To access the replay, click on "Investor Relations" on AEP’s home page. Once in "Investor Relations", go to "Company Updates" and click on "Conference Call Webcast."
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American Electric Power is a multinational energy company based in Columbus, Ohio. AEP is one of the United States´ largest generators of electricity with more than 38,000 megawatts of generating capacity. AEP is also one of the nation´s leading wholesale energy marketers and traders. AEP delivers electricity to more than 4.8 million customers in 11 states -- Arkansas, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Ohio, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia and West Virginia. The company serves more than 4 million customers outside the U.S. through holdings in Australia, Brazil, China, Mexico and the United Kingdom. Wholly owned subsidiaries are involved in power engineering, construction, energy management and telecommunications services.
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News releases and other information about AEP can be found on the World Wide Web at http://www.aep.com.
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The comments set forth above include forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, including (1) statements concerning the Company’s plans, objectives, expected performance and expenditures and (2) other statements that are other than statements of historical fact. These forward-looking statements reflect assumptions, and involve a number of risks and uncertainties. Among the factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from forward-looking statements are electric load and customer growth, abnormal weather conditions, availability of generating capacity, the ability to recover net regulatory assets and other stranded costs in connection with deregulation of generation, interest rates and other risks and unforeseen events over which the Company has no control. The reader is also directed to the Company’s periodic filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission for additional factors that may impact the Company’s results of operations and financial condition. Furthermore, historical results may not be indicative of the Company’s future performance.
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FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT
Media:Pat D. Hemlepp
Manager, Media Relations
614/223-1620
Analysts:John S. Bilacic
Manager, Investor Relations
614/223-2847
Media:Pat D. Hemlepp
Manager, Media Relations
614/223-1620
Analysts:John S. Bilacic
Manager, Investor Relations
614/223-2847