Friday, Piedmont Natural Gas Co. Inc. (PNY) reported a narrower loss for the third quarter, despite a significant fall in revenues. In addition, the company raised the lower end of its fiscal 2009 earnings guidance range provided earlier.
The Charlotte, North Carolina-based energy services company's net loss for the quarter narrowed to $7.3 million from $7.68 million in the previous year. Loss, on a per share basis, remained flat with last year at $0.10. On average, five analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected the company to report a loss of $0.11 per share for the quarter. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items.
Operating revenues for the quarter dropped 49% to $180.2 million from $354.71 million in the same quarter last year.
Piedmont noted that utility margin for the quarter increased by $3.8 million from last year, due to the company's 2008 general rate case in North Carolina and continued customer growth across its three-state service area. Cost of gas was $99.36 million, down 64%, from prior-year's cost of $277.69 million. Operations and maintenance expenses for the quarter marginally increased to $50.12 million from $49.74 million a year ago.
For the nine-month period, the company's net income increased to $127.1 million or $1.73 per share from $123.21 million or $1.67 per share in the preceding year. Operating revenues for the period declined 20% to $1.42 billion from $1.78 billion in the prior-year period.
Looking ahead to fiscal 2009, the company revised its earnings guidance to a range of $1.50 - $1.60 per share from the prior outlook of $1.45 - $1.60 per share. Analysts expect the company to report earnings of $1.56 per share for fiscal 2009. The company added that the changes in market conditions, which it cannot reasonably anticipate could cause earnings for the year to differ from this guidance. Thomas Skains, chairman, president and chief executive officer said, "This fiscal year has been a challenging one as our employees have worked through the very difficult economic conditions brought on by the global recession. By sticking to the fundamentals of maximizing profitable growth opportunities, implementing ongoing cost management and business process improvement programs, spending our capital resources prudently and providing quality customer service, we are poised to achieve another year of record earnings per share for our shareholders." PNY is currently trading at $24.23, down $0.01 or 0.04%, on a volume of 41 thousand shares.
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