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TECO Energy Reports Spike In 3rd-Quarter Profits

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By RUSSELL RAY, The Tampa Tribune

Published: November 3, 2007

TAMPA - Higher electricity sales and better-than-expected results from its Guatemala business fanned a 16 percent increase in third-quarter earnings at TECO Energy, the company said Friday.

The Tampa-based company earned $92.8 million, or 44 cents a share, in the quarter that ended Sept. 30. That's up from $79.7 million, or 38 cents a share, in the same period last year.

Revenue for the quarter rose 7 percent to $990 million.

The results exceeded expectations of analysts polled by Thomson Financial, who predicted a profit of 35 cents a share on revenue of $850.2 million.

The utility's shares rose 62 cents, or 3.76 percent, to $17.10 Friday.

TECO Energy's largest business is Tampa Electric Co., which provides power to more than 666,000 customers in Hillsborough County and parts of Pasco, Polk and Pinellas counties. Tampa Electric earned $64.8 million in the third quarter, up from $57 million in the third quarter of 2006.

Executives attributed the improvement to hot weather, a 1.8 percent growth in its customer base and increased electricity sales to other utilities.

"Our utilities continued to enjoy customer growth, but changes in customer usage patterns limited energy sales growth, even while setting new summer peak records," Sherrill Hudson, TECO chairman and chief executive officer, said in a statement.

TECO Guatemala, which includes two power plants and a 24 percent ownership in Central America's largest electric utility, saw its earnings rise 9.6 percent to $10.2 million, compared with the same quarter last year.

Earnings at TECO Transport, the shipping business TECO agreed to sell by the end of the year to a Miami-based investment group for $405 million in cash, nearly tripled to $11 million, up from $3.4 million in the third quarter of 2006.

The sale of TECO Transport is not expected to affect earnings this year. TECO said it still expects to earn between 97 cents and $1.07 a share in 2007.

Reporter Russell Ray can be reached at (813) 259-7870 or rray@tampatrib.com.

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