NSTAR posts 9.8% increase in 3Q profit

BOSTON – Energy delivery company NSTAR (NYSE: NST) posted a third-quarter profit of $84.20 million, 9.8 percent more than the year-ago period’s $76.70 million. Earnings per diluted share increased to 79 cents, from 72 cents per share in the third quarter of 2006.
Operating revenue for the period ended Sept. 30 was $804.92 million, the company said, a 15.8-percent decline from the year-ago period’s reported $956.28 million. (More-detailed financial information will be provided in the quarterly report the company expects to file with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Oct. 31, NSTAR said.)
Revenue from the seven-year rate agreement that began last year, increased transmission revenue and “positive tax outcomes” were partially offset by increases in operations and maintenance costs and decreased income from non-utility operations, the company said
“2007 has been a very solid year for NSTAR from both a financial and operational perspective,” Thomas J. May, the company’s chairman, president and CEO, said in a statement last night. “Our financial performance in the third quarter reflects stable economic conditions, positive impacts of our seven-year rate plan and improved revenues in our transmission business, and overall, is consistent with our expectations.
“Clearly, the investments of more than $1 billion we have made over just the last three years to provide a superior customer experience are paying off.”
A regular quarterly dividend of 32.5 cents per common share, 7.4 percent more than the year-ago 30.25 cents, will be paid on Nov. 1 to shareholders of record on Oct. 10, NSTAR announced on Sept. 27. Also on Nov. 1, NSTAR Electric Co. – a wholly-owned subsidiary of NSTAR – will pay dividends of $1.0625 per share on its 4.25-percent series of cumulative preferred stock and $1.1950 per share on its 4.78-percent series.
NSTAR (NYSE: NST) is an investor-owned natural gas and electric utility serving 1.4 million customers in New Bedford, Dartmouth, Fairhaven and other portions of eastern and central Massachusetts. Additional information is available at www.nstar.com.