THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, January 27, 1996 TAG: 9601270226
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: D2 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY DAVE MAYFIELD, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Short : 44 lines
Dominion Resources Inc., the Richmond-based parent of Virginia Power, said Friday that unusually cold weather helped push its 1995 fourth-quarter operating earnings up from the year before.
Dominion said that its net profit for all of last year actually declined, however, largely because of special write-offs at Virginia Power as the state's largest electric utility aggressively cut its work force.
For the fourth quarter, Dominion said it earned $40.5 million, or 23 cents a share, up from a net profit of $39.3 million, or 23 cents, in the same period a year earlier. The profit rise came on a 13 percent jump in fourth-quarter revenues, to $1.13 billion, as Virginia Power's electricity sales soared to heat homes and businesses during the fourth-quarter cold snap.
Dominion said the latest quarter's profits from ongoing operations - that is, excluding special gains or charges - rose even more sharply on a per-share basis: by the equivalent of 20 cents a share.
For all of 1995, Dominion posted net income of $425 million, or $2.45 a share, down from net income of $478.2 million, or $2.81 a share, the year before. Discounting special charges and gains, however, Dominion said its earnings increased by 11 cents a share for all of last year. Revenues for the full year totaled $4.65 billion, up from $4.49 billion in 1994.
Virginia Power took the bulk of Dominion's write-offs last year: a total of $76.6 million on an after-tax basis. About $33.5 million of the cost was related to the elimination last year of about 1,000 of Virginia Power's 10,500 jobs. Another big write-off, $24 million, was for permanently shuttering a partially completed facility at its North Anna power plant that was supposed to store low-level nuclear waste.
Dominion itself also was stung by write-offs, including one to cover the cost of resolving lawsuits filed by shareholders. The suits alleged that a since-resolved feud between Dominion and Virginia Power senior executives unnecessarily damaged Dominion's stock price. by CNB