NextEra Energy reports increase in first-quarter earnings

Florida-based utility operator and renewable power company NextEra Energy earned a net income of $1.67bn, or $0.84 for each share, in the first quarter of this year.

This is an increase from $421m, or $0.21 for each share, a year earlier.

On an adjusted basis, the firm’s earnings in the quarter were $1.33bn, or $0.67 for each share, compared to $1.17bn, or $0.59 for each share, in the first quarter of the previous year.

The company saw revenue of $3.73bn in the quarter, down from $4.61bn a year earlier.

The adjusted earnings do not include the impacts of non-qualifying hedges, net investment gains, gains on disposal of a business, or related differential membership interests.

Nor do they include any change in unrealised gains and losses on equity securities held in NextEra Energy Resources’ nuclear-decommissioning funds and other-than-temporary impairments (OTTI).

Net income from the company’s Florida Power and Light business increased to $720m in the quarter, up from $642m a year earlier.

Its renewable-energy business, NextEra Energy Resources, made $598m in adjusted profit in the quarter, up from $529m in the first quarter of last year.

The company’s subsidiary, NextEra Energy Transmission, completed the acquisition of GridLiance, which owns around 700 miles of high-voltage transmission lines.

NextEra Energy Transmission currently operates in ten states and six regional transmission organisations.

Revenue at the renewables business touched $781m in the first quarter of this year, a decline from $1.77bn.

NextEra Energy stated that its long-term financial expectations remain unchanged. For this year, the firm expects its adjusted earnings for each share to be in the range of $2.40 to $2.54.

For next year and 2023, the firm expects to grow 6% to 8% off this year’s expected adjusted earnings for each share. This will mean an adjusted range of earnings for each share, worth $2.55 to $2.75 and $2.77 to $2.97 respectively.

In 2018, NextEra Energy Transmission agreed to purchase Trans Bay Cable (TBC) for around $1bn, including the assumption of debt.