CMP parent company reports 'disappointing' financial results for 2019, stock price falls
Avangrid Inc. (NYSE: AGR), parent company of the state’s largest electricity supplier, Central Maine Power Co., on Tuesday released 2019 financial results and said it’s “disappointed” with them.
Avangrid reported net income of $700 million, or $2.26 per share, for the year, an 18% increase over the company’s 2018 income of $595 million, or $1.92 per share. Net income for the fourth quarter of 2019 was $230 million, or 74 cents per share, compared to $173 million, or 56 cents per share, for the same period in 2018.
However, after excluding certain factors and one-time events — such as the sale of Avangrid's gas storage business and repowering of wind farms — the adjusted results paint a different picture.
Adjusted net income for 2019 was $673 million, or $2.17 per share, down from an adjusted 2018 amount of $684 million, or $2.21 per share.
On Wednesday morning, Avangrid's stock price fell 7%, trading in the range of $52.30 after closing Tuesday at $56.30.
“We are disappointed with our financial results for what was ultimately a challenging year,” Avangrid CEO James P. Torgerson said in a news release after the closing. “As in recent years, continued low wind production impacted the results in our Renewables business. In our Networks business, outage restoration and staging costs and a penalty from a review of our 2018 storm response in New York negatively impacted our results.”
Reduced revenue from electricity transmission in Maine also contributed to the negative 2019 results, according to the release.
But Torgerson highlighted some positive accomplishments, including “key approvals” for the New England Clean Energy Connect transmission project, the planned $1 billion Central Maine Power Co. transmission line through western Maine. Last April, CMP received a critical “certificate of public convenience and necessity” from the Maine Public Utilities Commission for the project.
A group of opponents, however, is trying to create a citizens referendum that would revoke the approval. Earlier this month, the group delivered a petition for the referendum to the Maine Secretary of State.
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