Duke Energy 1Q profit jumps 29 percent

[May 04, 2010]  NEW YORK (AP) -- Power company Duke Energy said Tuesday that its second-quarter earnings jumped 29 percent as improving industrial demand and a cold winter boosted electricity sales.

The report is another sign that the economy is on the mend. Electricity sales for the nation's utilities are a good indicator of how the nation's businesses are performing.

Duke said it earned $445 million, or 34 cents per share, for the quarter ended March 31, compared with profit of $344 million, or 27 cents per share in the year-ago quarter.

Excluding charges, Duke said it would have made 36 cents per share in the quarter.

Like other utilities and power generators, Duke saw demand for electricity plummet during the recession, especially among industrial customers.

Duke, based in Charlotte, N.C. said industrial sales rose 11.6 percent in the Midwest and 4.3 percent in the Carolinas.

"We are seeing signs of economic stabilization, but we are mindful of the high levels of unemployment that still exist in our service territories," Jim Rogers, Duke's chairman, president and CEO, said in a statement.

Duke's industrial sales fell 14 percent last year as major energy users cut production.

Below-normal temperatures in the company's Midwest service areas of Indiana, Ohio and Kentucky and a brutal cold snap in the Carolinas also drove residential electricity sales higher during the quarter. The company has 4 million power customers between the two regions.

Revenue rose to $3.6 billion in the quarter compared with $3.3 billion in the year-ago first quarter.

Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters expected profit of 32 cents per share on revenue of $3.4 billion.

The company said it is on track to achieve adjusted earnings per share of $1.25 to $1.30 per share. Wall Street is looking for profit of $1.33 per share.

[Associated Press; By MARK WILLIAMS]

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