ARLINGTON, Va., Sep 25, 2001 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- The AES Corporation (NYSE: AES chart, msgs) announced today that it is reducing its annual earnings per share estimate (excluding certain charges as discussed below) to a range of $1.25 to $1.45 for the fiscal year ending December 31, 2001.
Reductions from earlier guidance primarily arise from (i) the translation impact on operating income at the Company's Brazilian businesses from the continued weakening of the Brazilian Real relative to the U.S. Dollar, which has depreciated substantially during 2001, (ii) the sustained and continuing decline in electricity prices in the United Kingdom market and (iii) our inability in the current economic environment to replace the earnings anticipated from the planned acquisition of the Mohave power plant with potential earnings from other new businesses.
The revised expectations exclude certain charges, including restructuring charges related to the IPALCO merger, any gains or losses arising from the application of Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) Statement 133, any potential charges that may result from divestiture of certain businesses and foreign currency transaction charges on U.S. dollar denominated debt in Brazil.
Barry Sharp, Chief Financial Officer, commented, "We are disappointed that our operating results will not reach our original earnings expectations. A number of our businesses have performed better than expected so far this year, but not significantly enough to be able to offset the negative impacts on operating earnings, the most significant of which arose from shortfalls from Brazil, the UK and the loss of Mohave. Together, shortfalls in those three business areas will likely reduce our results this year by approximately $0.50 per share."
Dennis W. Bakke, President and Chief Executive Officer, stated, "This year will be an economic setback for AES and we take full responsibility for the expected poor results. We see this essentially as a missed year of earnings growth. While we furthered the mission of our company by expanding into many new businesses, most of those already announced, as well as those expected in the next few months, are greenfield construction projects. They will add to operating earnings in future years, but not in 2001. In addition, we have not successfully closed major new acquisitions of operating businesses that would add to earnings in the current year. The problems encountered in 2001 remind us of our fallibility and strengthen our resolve to continually improve the operating performance of our businesses. In addition, AES people in our 18 groups continue to take steps to serve new places around the world wherever we find business opportunities consistent with our purpose, principles and meet our economic, safety and environmental criteria."
This news release includes forward-looking statements. Actual events and results may differ materially from those projected. Factors that could affect actual results are discussed in AES's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, and readers are encouraged to read those filings to learn more about the risk factors associated with AES's businesses.
These issues will be discussed on today's scheduled conference call at 5:00 pm (Eastern). If you are interested in participating in the conference call, the number to dial is 212/896 6148 and the reservation number is 19769166. A live webcast of the call will also be available online at aesc.com and streetevents.com.
AES is a leading global power company comprised of competitive generation, distribution and retail supply businesses in Argentina, Australia, Bangladesh, Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, Colombia, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Georgia, Hungary, India, Italy, Kazakhstan, the Netherlands, Nigeria, Mexico, Oman, Pakistan, Panama, Sri Lanka, the Ukraine, the United Kingdom, the United States and Venezuela.
The company's generating assets include interests in one hundred and sixty facilities totaling over 58 gigawatts of capacity. AES's electricity distribution network has over 920,000 km of conductor and associated rights of way and sells over 126,000 gigawatt hours per year to over 17 million end-use customers.
In addition, through its various retail electricity supply businesses, the company sells electricity to over 154,000 end-use customers.
AES is dedicated to providing electricity worldwide in a socially responsible way. |
