Piedmont Natural Gas reports seasonal third-quarter loss
Piedmont Natural Gas reported a third-quarter loss Wednesday of $6.7 million, or 8 cents a share, compared to the $8.3 million loss of the same quarter a year earlier.
Adjusted for expenses related to its pending acquisition by Duke Energy, Piedmont lost $5.7 million or 7 cents a share.
The North Carolina Utilities Commission held a hearing on the $4.9 billion acquisition in July and is expected to rule this fall. Duke and Piedmont hope to close by the end of the year.
Piedmont refers to third-quarter losses as seasonal because they fall in three warm-weather months, ending July 31, when natural gas isn’t needed for heating.
Net income for the first three quarters was $154.5 million with diluted earnings per share of $1.90, compared to $151.1 million in income and $1.91 in earnings per share in 2015.
Customer growth in residential and commercial markets are three percent higher so far this year over 2015, chairman and CEO Thomas Skains said in a statement.
Bruce Henderson: 704-358-5051, @bhender
This story was originally published September 7, 2016 at 4:49 PM with the headline "Piedmont Natural Gas reports seasonal third-quarter loss."