Pacific Northern Gas Ltd. announced that the Board of Directors has declared a special dividend of $3.00 per common share in addition to a regular quarterly dividend of $0.30 per share. The latest quarterly dividend is unchanged from the fourth quarter of 2010 but up from $0.28 in the first quarter of 2010. The total dividend of $3.30 per share is payable March 24, 2011 to shareholders of record at the close of business on March 15, 2011.
The special dividend of $3.00 per share represents approximately $11 million or 50 percent of the net proceeds (after taxes and related transaction related expenses) from the initial payment of $30 million received on March 2, 2011 upon the closing of the sale of PNG’s 50 percent stake in Pacific Trail Pipelines Limited Partnership (PTP).
PNG also announced net income for the fourth quarter of 2010 was $4.0 million or $1.10 per share (basic), up 16 percent from $3.4 million or $0.95 per share in the fourth quarter of 2009. The basic earnings per common share are calculated after deducting preferred dividends of $0.1 million in the fourth quarter of 2010, unchanged from a year earlier.
“In the fourth quarter of 2010 our earnings benefited from the regulated pipeline component of our business and from lower expenditures on the proposed KSL pipeline,” said Roy Dyce, PNG’s President and Chief Executive Officer. “Demand for natural gas weakened, in part because of the loss of a significant industrial customer in the forest industry. But with new investment in mines, metal production and related infrastructure, as well as proposed LNG projects, natural gas demand in our service area is expected to recover.”
Revenue in the fourth quarter of 2010 was $30.1 million, down 4 percent from $31.2 million in the same period in 2009. The decrease in revenue was mainly due to a decrease in off-system gas sales, partially offset by new revenue from the McNair Creek hydro-electricity generation facility (McNair), acquired in April 2010.
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Source: Pacific Northern Gas, March 4, 2011;