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Strategies & Market Trends : Trend Setters and Range Riders -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Bob Biersack who wrote (21434)	7/30/2002 9:49:01 AM
From: Connor26	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 26752

nice Bob - sure could use another up day (of course all your days contain something up!)

To: Bob Biersack who wrote (21434)	7/30/2002 10:20:19 AM
From: Connor26	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 26752

MIR - not all good news Tuesday July 30, 10:14 am Eastern Time Reuters Company News Mirant posts loss, issues earnings warning ATLANTA, July 30 (Reuters) - Power producer and trader Mirant Corp. (NYSE:MIR - News) on Tuesday posted a second-quarter loss, warned that it could miss its full-year earnings target and forecast lower earnings next year. The company also said an accounting review had found several errors in its 2001 financial statements. In order to bolster its balance sheet, Atlanta-based Mirant said it will eliminate some collateral obligations, sell an additional $700 million to $1 billion of assets, and buy back as much as $500 million in debt securities through next year. It is trying to renew and extend an unsecured revolving credit facility. Mirant reported a net loss of $151 million, or 38 cents a share, for the second quarter, citing a subdued energy trading market and a restructuring charge. A year earlier it reported a profit of $124 million, or 36 cents a share. Included in the latest results are an $18 million restructuring charge, a $284 million write-down in the value of an asset in the UK, and a $6 million gain from asset sales. An accounting review of its 2001 financial statements, being conducted by the law firm King & Spalding, has uncovered an $85 million overstatement of a gas inventory asset, a $100 million overstatement of an accounts payable liability, and a potential $68 million overstatement of an accounts receivable asset, Mirant said. "These issues were uncovered during consolidation of our corporate and Americas accounting groups and their effort to reconcile differences in asset accounts and liability accounts," President and Chief Executive Marce Fuller said in a statement. "Our internal review has tentatively concluded that any mistakes were made honestly." Like many energy companies, Mirant has been forced to shore up its balance sheet in the wake of a credit crunch precipitated by the collapse of energy trader Enron Corp. (Other OTC:ENRNQ.PK - News). So far this year, Mirant has paid down $1.2 billion in debt, raised $1.12 billion through securities sales, and cut planned capital expenditures. The company has also raised nearly $1.6 billion from asset sales. The second phase of asset sales, totaling up to $1 billion, will include its WPD unit in the UK, it said. WPD is an electricity distribution business that serves 2.4 million customers in England and Wales. Mirant said earnings per share for the full year 2002 could miss the company's target range of $1.60 to $1.70 per share, hurt by the dilutive effect of convertible securities it recently issued, a write-down of WPD, continued low power and gas prices, and sluggish liquidity in the energy trading market. The unpredictable nature of the market and future asset sales will cause 2003 earnings to fall below those of 2002, it said. Excluding one-time items, the company reported a second-quarter profit of 36 cents a share, 2 cents above the average estimate of analysts polled by Thomson First Call. Mirant posted revenue of $6.36 billion, down from $7.92 billion a year earlier. Mirant shares were down 5 cents at $2.85 in morning trade on the New York Stock Exchange. During the second quarter the shares fell nearly 50 percent, underperforming the Standard & Poor's Utility index (^GSPU - News), which dropped 17.7 percent.